To Have and To Want
by jedi-from-mordor
Summary: AU from HBP. Harry wants Ginny. But there's something he doesn't know... and the secret isn't kind to him. Diverges after Ginny's breakup with Dean, but before the final Quidditch match.
1. I

**TO HAVE AND TO WANT**

_Yet another detention with Snape,_ Harry cursed. Snape may have wanted the Dark Arts job, but he didn't become more pleasant once he got it. Quite the contrary.

But it was over, and he could finally go back and get some sleep. Or maybe...

_Ginny. _Dare he hope? What if she still liked him?

Harry heard a small noise. _Filch!_ he immediately thought. And Snape would be delighted to walk by and give him another detention for curfew violation. His invisibility cloak was in his dormitory. He ran to nearby cupboard and flung the door open, hoping to hide.

He barely held back a scream. It was the second time this year he had stumbled on Ginny's snogging session. Only this time, she wasn't kissing Dean.

She was kissing Parvati Patil.

They stared at each other for several seconds, too shocked to speak.

Harry was the first to recover. "S-s-sorry," he muttered, and shut the door.

XXX

Harry didn't go to bed that night. He sat in the common room, staring into the fire.

"I think girls were invented by some dark wizard as a torture device," he muttered.

"Oh, come on," a girl's voice said from behind. "Are we really that bad?"

"Harry spun around, wand at the ready. It was Parvati.

"You!" he managed.

"Hold on, Potter," Parvati raised her voice. "_I_ didn't do anything."

"You didn't—" And then he realized what she meant. "Padma," he said. "It was Padma."

Parvati nodded. "Well, you're one of the four people in the school who knows," she said. "I told them to be more careful."

"Why's that?" Harry demanded.

"What if it was her brother instead of you? Or a gossip-monger like Lavender? Or that Malfoy—"

"You're Lavender's best friend," Harry objected.

"True," Parvati said. "But the Patils never betray each other's secrets."

"You're lucky," Harry growled. Then it hit him. _Why was he discussing this with Parvati?_

"Are you jealous?" Parvati asked.

_Damn. I thought Ginny and Hermione were blunt. _The pain stabbed him again. _Ginny..._

"No point in it, is there?" he replied.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"How can you joke about something like this!" he yelled.

"I am not joking. Bottling up anger is dangerous. To you, and everyone around you."

"Who told you this—"

"Trelawney," Parvati admitted.

"Well, _that_ means it's true, right?" he said.

"Trelawney is really nice," Parvati replied.

"Yeah, when she isn't predicting your death," Harry snorted.

Parvati sighed. "Sorry," she said. "She was really helpful to us."

"Us?"  
"Me and Lavender. And her predictions were accurate for us."

"Like what?"

"Well, Lavender's rabbit, for one."

"She messed up the 'beware a red-headed man' prediction, though. She should have warned Lavender instead of you."

"Isn't Ron your best friend?"

"Isn't Lavender yours?" Harry countered. "He also happens to be a bloody idiot. And don't blame me for _that_, too."

"I am not. But Trelawney is worth listening to."

"Did you _ever_ see anything in the crystal ball?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, of course. People, places... I never could tell what it meant, though."

"Oh, that's useful."

"Lavender's a true Seer. I do better with Tarot cards. We are learning that this year—"

"I'm glad I quit," he said. "Who knows what Trelawney would read for me? Oh, wait. I do. Death, danger, destruction... like I didn't know that already."

Parvati moved closer. "Take it from someone who is used to disappointment in the romance department," Parvati said. "It helps to release it on something. Last year, I went to the Room of Requirement to break things a few times."

"Break things?"

"It works for me. You might find something else. But don't keep it inside."

"Sorry about the Yule Ball," Harry blurted out without thinking.

Parvati paused. "About two years too late, but better than nothing, I guess." She smiled. "Now, you really should get some sleep. You look like a wreck."

"I feel like one," Harry admitted. "Guess you're right." He stood up. "Good night, Parvati." He headed upstairs.

"Goodnight, Harry," Parvati said quietly. "Glad I could help."

XXX

The next day, Harry sat at the edge of the lake, thinking. He didn't know what to make of Parvati's advice last night. Going to the Room of Requirement and breaking things wasn't his style. He needed something else.

"Hello, Harry," a voice from behind said.

He turned around. "Ginny!" A foolish hope that it was all a dream rose inside. He crushed it.

"Harry," Ginny sat down next to him. "That wasn't how I'd have liked you to find out."

"You wouldn't have liked me to find out at all," Harry retorted.

Ginny paused. "I'm sorry, Harry."

He flinched. Pity was not what he needed.

"I am not angry at you," he said.

"What about Padma?"

Harry wished she hadn't brought this up. But he had to be honest with her. "I don't know. I _was_ angry at Dean—but there, I could see myself in his place. Now... doesn't seem to be any point in it."

"You're lying, Harry. You are angry."

Harry nodded. But he wasn't sure he was angry at Padma. In fact, his anger seemed to have no target at all.

"I still care about you, Harry. I even _wanted_ to like you—"

"Ginny, stop. I know well enough that you can't make yourself like or not like someone."

"I know. But I didn't even know you liked me until Parvati told me this morning."

"And what would you do if you did? Try to pursue a relationship with me out of pity?"

Ginny stood up. "You know me better than that."

"Sorry. I'm just..."

"Angry. I understand."

"Do you?"

"Well," she said, "I know something about unrequited love, don't you think?"  
"Ironic, isn't it?" Harry asked.

"I would not pursue a relationship out of pity. Especially knowing that it wouldn't work because I'm a..."

"Lesbian?"

"Harry... I hate asking you this... but do you think we're doing something wrong?"  
Harry was surprised by her question. "What?"

"We've been keeping our relationship secret. You know many people think it's immoral."

"Of course I know. Wait. Your family?"

Ginny nodded. "I don't know if they'll accept it."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Ginny said. "Do _you_ think it's immoral?"

Harry laughed. He laughed for a long time before Ginny stopped him. "What's so funny?"

Harry suppressed another laugh. He stood up and paced around her. "You know what I think is immoral? Voldemort. The Death Eaters. Umbridge. Killing innocent people. Throwing innocent people in Azkaban. Torturing someone to insanity. That's what I think is immoral." He looked at her, as if daring her to challenge him.

She didn't. "Harry, I need to ask you two things."

"Sure," he said.

"First," she breathed, "don't tell Ron or Hermione."

"I won't," Harry agreed. "But they might find out by themselves. Maybe the same way I did."

She sighed. "I know. I'm just not ready."

"All right. What's the other thing?"

"Harry... are we still friends?"

That was harder to answer. But Harry was not about to start lying to Ginny now. "I... don't know. Maybe. Right now... it hurts too much."

Ginny nodded. "I'm sure there's a special girl out there for you. I'm sorry I can't be her," she said.

"What?" Harry asked.

Ginny continued, ignoring the question. "She's very lucky, whoever she is." Then, she shocked Harry by approaching him and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Good luck in finding her," she whispered in his ear. Then she turned and headed back to the castle.

Harry watched her go.

XXX

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, head of the Order of the Phoenix, was dead.

Harry was sitting at the funeral, listening to people speak. He was still numb from shock. Dumbledore had always emphasized to him that he trusted Snape. _Always_. And Harry himself saw how Snape repaid that trust.

Maybe it was a good thing Ginny never got involved with him. What could he give her, except danger? He would always wonder of the possibilities... but at this point, he was glad Ginny was off-limits... in more ways than one.

He couldn't help himself. He cared for Ginny. So, steading himself, he walked over to the back row of seats. He spotter the person he was looking for. "Padma," he said. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

The Ravenclaw looked surprised but nodded. "What is it?"

"I overheard Parvati saying she isn't coming back next year. Are you?"

"I don't know. I'd like to, and I'm of age, but my parents—"

"Try to," he said. "For Ginny."

"What? Why—"

"Listen to me carefully. I care for Ginny very much. I had hoped... well, never mind that, it's not happening. But I know some things about Ginny you don't. Ron, Hermione, and I are leaving. We might return next year, we might not... we might not return at all." Padma opened her mouth, but Harry didn't let her say anything. "Ginny is vulnerable right now. And I don't—"

"You obviously don't know her well enough," Padma said. "Ginevra isn't weak, and—"

"I didn't say she was weak. I said she was vulnerable. There is a difference. What do you know about her first year?"  
Padma stood there silently, then nodded. "Enough," she finally got out.

"Then I won't say any more. She's not likely to be specifically targeted by Voldemort, the way she would if she was with me, but she's a Weasley and a sister to my best friend, and that's dangerous enough. And when her family finds out about your relationship—and they will—that'll be another cause of distress. Like I said, I still care about Ginny, and I don't want her to get hurt—physically or emotionally. Physically, I suppose Hogwarts is safer than anywhere else—though how safe that is is anyone's guess. As for her emotional well-being, I'll have to trust you with that." He turned away and headed off. "Padma," he said, stopping and turning back to the girl, "I don't like it when people betray my trust." With that, he walked back towards Ron and Hermione, hoping that the future Horcrux hunt would distract him from unhappy thoughts of the past few weeks, which, in retrospect, seemed to be an unqualified disaster—fortunately, unlike last year, none of it being his own fault.


	2. II

The Dursleys tended to ignore him for the past few weeks. Harry only had several days left until he was seventeen and was gone from Privet Drive for good. He would probably never see them again afterwards—no that he'd miss them.

But he was about to get a new surprise. "Boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled from downstairs.

Harry came down. "What?"

"Don't you say 'what' in that tone, boy! Your Aunt Marge is coming to visit again," he said. "And if anything happens like it did the last time—"

"What?" Harry snapped. "What then?"

"Never mind. You will put all that... freaky stuff of yours where she can't see it. Including that damn owl."

Harry shrugged. Dumbledore made him promise to remain at the Dursleys until his seventeenth birthday, and he owed him at least that much. He would certainly try.

But he got an idea that could prove useful. He didn't have much time before Aunt Marge got here, but it was enough. He went upstairs to his room, gathered all the magical stuff into the trunk, got out a piece of parchment, and wrote a letter. "Here, Hedwig," he told his owl. "Be careful."

The owl flew away. Harry hid the trunk under his bed. The room looked almost normal now. Harry shrugged. _Less than a week left._

He heard Aunt Marge's voice from downstairs. She and Aunt Petunia were talking about Dudley, who was away somewhere. Then Uncle Vernon yelled at him to come down and help Aunt Marge carry her bags to the guest bedroom.

"Still leeching off my brother?" she barked.

Harry ignored her, carried the bags upstairs, swallowed his meal, and left the house. He returned late, and went straight up to his room. Aunt Marge tried to get him to stop, but he ignored everything—even insults to his parents. "A delinquent. Just like his father, probably." Harry slumped down on his bed. He didn't want Aunt Marge to see any magical stuff, and he doubted she'd look closely at the books on the shelf. His reading at least kept him from being bored to death.

But Aunt Marge couldn't affect him for long. Harry was almost excited. The time until he could leave was measured in hours, not days. But at lunchtime, Aunt Marge dropped another surprise on them.

"Vernon, how about I take Dudders to my club tonight?" From what he'd overheard in the past few days, Aunt Marge owned a discotheque in London. She said she was well known by parents who were afraid of their children mixing up with the wrong crowd. "The wrong crowd,"—at this point, she looked at Harry— "aren't allowed in."

"Splendid, Marge!" Uncle Vernon exclaimed. "What do you say, son?"

Dudley nodded absentmindedly. "Sure," he said.

"Good," Aunt Marge said. "You're coming, too," she declared to Harry.

"What?!" Harry, Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon asked at once.

"Yes, you are," Aunt Marge said. "I need someone to serve drinks."

Dudley laughed. Uncle Vernon gave a nasty smile. Aunt Petunia froze.

Harry shrugged. "Whatever." He headed away.

"You better not be late!" Aunt Marge yelled after him.

"Whatever," Harry repeated. He could go. His plan might work even better this way.

XXX

Harry was carrying around a tray of drinks, watching as Aunt Marge tried—unsuccessfully—to get girls to dance with Dudley. Dudley seemed to enjoy giving Harry orders and having them instantly obeyed more. At least he got results that way.

Harry laughed to himself. The club was advertised to parents of teens as free of harmful influences; that was at best an exaggeration. The punch Harry was serving had been spiked, and Dudley already had enough to be a bit tipsy. The few chaperons Aunt Marge hired were barely older than the kids themselves, and wouldn't be able to throw out even someone like Dudley. In fact, Harry was afraid that if some unsavory types _did_ come in, he'd have to pull out his wand.

But the prospects of that were unlikely, and he could even have some fun if—"

"Boy! I need another drink!" Aunt Marge yelled at him.

"Yes, Ms. Dursley," Harry said. Aunt Marge forbid him to all her "Aunt" in the club.

She took the glass, didn't bother thanking him, and drank it. Harry took a few steps backwards—a sensible precaution.

Aunt Marge dropped the glass, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"What did you—"

"Shut up, Dudley," Harry said. "Guys! Help me move her!"  
A few boys slightly older than him approached. "Everyone?" one of them asked Harry.

"Looks like it," Harry replied. He looked around. Sure enough, all the hired chaperons were lying on the floor, sleeping.

"Thanks, mate," the other boy said. "How did you do this?"

"Magic," Harry answered. The guy laughed as he helped Harry drag Aunt Marge into a broom closet.

When Harry sent Hedwig away, he wrote to Fred and George, asking for a few useful potions. He picked them up at Mrs. Figg's, planning to use them if Aunt Marge did something extremely unbearable. Harry decided this qualified.

Harry returned to the main room, where Dudley still looked dumbfounded. The older boy walked into the center and declared, "Now that we got rid of annoyances, let's have a real party!" Everyone except Dudley cheered.

Harry had fun outside the magical world for the first time in his life. He danced with a few girls—quite a few were eager to when the older boy—Patrick Nelson, as he introduced himself, claiming to be a descendant of Admiral Nelson—informed the crowed that he got Marge and the rest of of the chaperons off their backs. He almost wished he could stay, and make a living for himself in the Muggle world. That was a fantasy and he knew it, but who said you couldn't fantasize?

"Get away from me, you pig!" he heard someone shouted. He turned. Dudley was trying to make moves on a girl, and had grabbed her arm. He was even less successful at getting dance partners in the past hour than he had been with Aunt Marge hovering nearby. By the look on his face, Dudley was about to erupt in anger, and Harry wouldn't put it past him to hit the girl.

He approached his cousin, who was still pulling the girl towards him.

"Dudley," Harry said almost into his ear, "she goes to my school."

"Aaargh! Get away from me!" Dudley immediately let the girl go and scampered. Harry looked at her face.

It was Parvati.

"Harry!" she exclaimed.

"Hi, Parvati," Harry said. "I didn't even have to lie."

"What?"

"Oh. I didn't recognize you, so I said you went to school with me to get my cousin off you."

"Cousin? That's—"

Harry nodded. "That's Dudley. I just knew he'd lay off if he thought you were a,"—he lowered his voice to a whisper— "witch."

"Thanks. What're you doing here?"

"My Aunt owns this joint, and she brought Dudley here to meet girls—"

Parvati laughed.

"—and me to serve drinks. Big mistake. She's in a broom closet under a sleeping potion."  
Parvati laughed again.

"Do you frequent Muggle clubs often?" Harry asked.

"No, but my... boyfriend—well, ex-boyfriend now—showed me this place last week."

"He's already and _ex_-boyfriend?"

Parvati frowned. "I'd rather not talk about—"

"Parvati!" Patrick nelson approached them. "You know..."

"—him," Parvati managed to finish the sentence.


	3. III

"Whoa, back up," Harry said. "What exactly happened?"

"Well..." Patrick began.

"This is a guy who doesn't like the idea of sticking to one woman," Parvati declared.

"Now wait just a minute!" Patrick protested. "You—"

"You cheated on her?" Harry asked.

"Yes, he did!" Parvati exclaimed. Then, quickly, she muttered, "I shouldn't have come here."

"And why's that?" Harry asked. "Just ignore him and you'll be fine."

She gave him a stare. "Are you sure, Mr. Potter? I may take you up on that."

"Why don't you?" And with that, he led her to the dance floor.

"You're better than the last time we danced," she said.

"I have better motivations."

"Really? And what's that?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Okay, keep your secrets and be mysterious," she retorted. "Why would your Aunt have you serve drinks?"  
Harry frowned. "You don't know what it's like, do you? Living with relatives who hate you because of who you are... but I won't have to. Not anymore."

"What?"

"Didn't I tell you? It's my birthday... well, it will be in... fourteen minutes. My _seventeenth_ birthday."

"So what'll you do?"

"What I need to," he said cryptically. "But I'd rather not talk about that now." Harry spun her around. "This is a lot more fun."

"Agreed," Parvati said. "Shall we watch the clock?"

Harry nodded. Sneaking glances at the clock as they danced, they watched the midnight approach. "Parvati, come on. I'm going to give Dudley one last scare."

Parvati smiled and followed Harry.

"Hello, cousin," he said as he approached the chair Dudley was sitting in. "Having fun?"

"Aren't you brave now that you've got your freak girlfriend with you?"

"Parvati is not a freak," Harry said, "and you better watch out."

"Oh yeah? They'll expel you if—"

"Dudley, what day is it today?"

Dudley gave a thought to it. "Oh..." The clock began to strike twelve.

Dudley looked paralyzed with fear. "What're you going to do?"

"Oh, I've got a couple of ideas," Harry said casually.

At the stroke of twelve, Dudley shook. "Oh, lay it off, big D," Harry said. "I'm not stupid enough to do anything here. And I won't do anything at all if I don't have a reason to." And leaving Dudley alone, he headed back to the dance floor.

"I think you should get a birthday present," Parvati said.

"Parvati... you don't have to."

"I know I don't. I would have bought something if I knew—"

"You couldn't have known," Harry protested. "You shouldn't—"

Parvati leaned in and kissed him.

Awkwardly, Harry kissed back.

"Hmm..." he said. "I think I like that present."

"You _think_?" Parvati stepped back and hit his arm. "Do you want another one?"

"Uhm..."

"Oh, forget it. You're hopeless." She gave him another kiss.

"When is your birthday?" Harry suddenly asked. "Just so I don't forget in the future."

"February 6th," Parvati said. "And if you _do_ remember, you'll be my first boyfriend who does."

Harry led her towards a bench and sat down. "Will you be going back to Hogwarts?" he asked.

"If it opens, yes. I do want to graduate."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

Parvati glanced at the clock. It was approaching 12:30.

"I have to go," she said. "Don't worry, as soon as I'm out of the Muggles' view, I'll Apparate straight home. Write to me, Harry, okay? Lavender is too far, and you have no idea how boring my family can be."

Harry frowned. Letters could be intercepted easily. "I doubt I'll be able to say anything interesting in my letters," he said. "I'll try, though. I just don't even know what I'll be doing next."

Parvati nodded. "You aren't going to tell me what, are you? I'll let it go... for now. You won't be able to get with that forever."  
Harry laughed. "But I can try."

"Patils are persistent," Parvati countered.

Harry shook his head. "So are Potters."

"I hope to see you on the Hogwarts Express, Harry. Whatever it is you'll be doing... good luck." She gave him a final kiss before walking out the door.

Harry gathered himself, and, not seeing anything else to do, went to find his cousin. "Dudley!" he yelled. "Let's go home."

"Don't tell me what—" Dudley stopped as Harry moved to draw his wand. "Where's Aunt Marge?" he asked.

Harry pointed to the broom closet. "Come on," he said. Not without difficulty, they got Aunt Marge into the car. Harry could have used magic to make her lighter, but he enjoyed making Dudley sweat. He made Dudley drive home. Dudley didn't complain.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia still hadn't gone to sleep when they came.

"How was it, son? Did you have fun?" Uncle Vernon asked.

"Fine, Dad," Dudley said.

"Where's Aunt Marge?"

"In the car," Harry answered. "Drunk."

Uncle Vernon turned red. "My sister doesn't get drunk!" he yelled.

"See for yourself," Harry shrugged and headed upstairs to retrieve his trunk.

"Boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled. "What did you do to my sister?"

"Nothing. She'll wake up in the morning, like a _normal person_. And I'll be gone by then."

"You're leaving?" Aunt Petunia said.

"I'm seventeen, and considered an adult in the wizarding world. I would have left her years ago if I had a choice. If I never come here again, it'll be too soon." He looked at the Dursleys. "You know Voldemort is out there. You know he's after me. Here's something you don't know—Dumbledore told me I need love to defeat him. Well, I certainly won't find any here. And remember, _Aunt Petunia—_deep down, you know very well that if the situation was the opposite, if you and Uncle Vernon died and Dudley had to be raised by my parents—they wouldn't treat him the way you treated me. You can deny it, but in your hearts, you know. Make of that what you will. Goodbye." He Disapparated before the Dursleys could get in a word.

XXX

Harry Apparated in Ottery St. Catchpole and walked to the Burrow. H eknocked on the familiar door.

"Who is it?" he heard Ron's voice.

"Me."

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "I'll—"

"Ron!" Hermione's voice interrupted him. "Remember the rules?"

"Oh... Harry, what did you tell me the last time we talked before the first Triwizard Tournament task?"

Harry concentrated. That was during their row, when they hardly talked... "I tossed a 'Potter Stinks' badge at you. Then I said, 'Why don't you wear that Tuesday. Maybe now you'll even have a scar on your forehead. It's what you want, isn't it?'"

"It's Harry, all right. I never told anyone about that."

Hermione opened the door and motioned him to join them at the table. "Hey, mate," Ron greeted him. "Tea?"

"Thanks," Harry took the teacup. Hermione sat back down. Several books and parchments lay in front of her.

"What are you doing up?" he asked. "It's three in the morning."

"Mum's crazy," Ron said.

"Ron, don't say that," Hermione chided him. "With all the work preparing for the wedding, people sleep at odd hours," she explained. "Plus, they decided we should have someone awake at all times—for added safety. It's my night."

"And Ron volunteered to keep you company?" Harry asked.

Hermione blushed. "How was it? At Muggles', I mean?"

"Not that bad," Harry said. "So what is it you're researching?"

"History of the first war," she answered. "Voldemort—oh, Ron, when are you going to realize that's just superstition—the Death Eaters, what the Ministry did—more like what the Ministry didn't do, actually."

"No changes on that front?" Harry asked.

"Still placing public opinion ahead of everything else," she said bitterly. "And the Order has been getting even less support since Dumbledore's death."

"Who's head of the Order now?" Harry asked. "McGonagall?"  
Ron shook his head. "No, she's too busy with Hogwarts. It's Mum," he said. "So now she does all the interesting stuff while farming out the wedding preparation to us."

Harry nodded. "Where's everyone else?"

"Bill is visiting Fleur's family in France," Ron said. "Charlie's in Romania, Percy—well, you know, Fred and George are in their shop. It's been just the three of us, mostly—Dad's working late and Mum's busy with the Order." He grinned. "I sort of like that." Hermione only shook her head.

"Ginny's asleep?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Hermione said. "What're your plans?"

"First," he said, "get some sleep myself. Second, go to the Ministry and get my Apparition license."

"You Apparated here... without a license?"

"I already did that... with Dumbledore. On that night. What're they going to do," he smirked, "send _the Chosen One_ to Azkaban?"  
"Harry, that's not funny."

He shrugged. "I also need to arrange a couple of things." He lowered his voice. "We shouldn't discuss anything important here."

"You're going to bed?" Ron interrupted.

"Yeah."

"Well, Mum asked us to pick up some things at Diagon Alley tomorrow morning, so we'll probably miss you. Good luck with the license test, mate."

"Good luck, Harry." Hermione hugged him.

"Um, thanks. I'll go to Grimmauld after t he test, and we can discuss the plans there."

Hermione nodded. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Goodnight."

XXX

The next day, Ron and Hermione already left by the time he came down. "Harry!" Ginny ran at him from the kitchen table, her long red hair waving behind her.

"Morning, Ginny. Is everything all right?"

"Mostly," she replied. "I just wish it was a bit... calmer. With Voldemort around, don't you think losing your nerves over a wedding is overdoing it?"

Harry nodded. "You said Voldemort."

Ginny shrugged. "In case you're wondering, the secret is still a secret. Padma insists—"

"Ginny," he said firmly. "You know how I feel... felt about you?"

"So which is it? Feel or felt?"

"Doesn't matter. But considering that you used to feel the same way—or thought you did—I think it's prudent to stay out of each other's love lives."

"Deal," she said. Then she leaned in and whispered into his ear. "So who is she?"

"Ginny..." he said sternly.

"Come on. You know who—"

"Well," he grinned, "you could find out the same way I did."

"Ouch. That was low, Potter, even for you."

"Speaking of which, any progress between Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny appeared amused. "Those two? Hopeless. I feel the urge to yell at them to snog each other senseless."

"I might just try that," Harry offered.

"Please do."

Harry laughed. "Thanks," he said. "Are they reopening Hogwarts?"  
"I don't know—no one does. Professor McGonagall seems upset. Does it matter? To you, I mean."

"It's home," Harry said.

"I know."

They ate breakfast in silence.

"Well, I better go, or I'll be late for my test."

"Good luck," she said.

"Thanks, Ginny. I'll see you tonight."

"When?"

"Depends. But I doubt it'll be very late. Ten or eleven at worst."

Ginny nodded. "All right. I'll see you later."

Harry left the Burrow and headed towards a street where he could summon the Knight Bus. He felt a bit of satisfaction at what happened. Ginny asked him if they were still friends. He could answer her now, and the answer was affirmative.

XXX

Having successfully passed his Apparition test, Harry arrived at Grimmauld place. He hasn't set foot here in a year and a half, and he didn't want to do so now, but there was no other location he'd consider secure enough. He heard two pops behind him and drew his wand. But it was only Ron and Hermione.

"Did you pass?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "Come in. Might as well make ourselves happy with food. There won't be anything else."

"Harry, that's grim—"

"It's the truth. We lost the most powerful wizard on our side—"

"No, we haven't, Harry," Hermione said, and looked at him.

Harry understood what she meant, and, while proud, privately refused to accept this. He doubted whether Dumbledore was right to trust in him. Their last mission produced nothing of value, and ended in Dumbledore's death.

"Harry?" Ron whispered.

"Huh? Oh," he said. "You know, you can still leave, and put yourselves—"

"Harry, you know what we'll say to that."

Harry sighed. "So, here's where we stand: Voldemort split his soul into seen pieces, encasing in them in objects that held sentimental value to him. As long as pieces of his soul exist outside his body, taking him on directly is pointless."

"Harry, why? Can't we destroy his body and _then, _in relative peace, search for the Horcruxes?"

"I've thought about it. The problem is, according to the prophecy, I'm the only one who can defeat him. And I'll likely only get one chance at him, so I've got to make it count. Also, only three people, besides Voldemort himself, know about the seven pieces of Voldemort's soul, and all three are right here."

"And?" Ron asked.

"And I'm not so sure what our chances of survival are. If we're all dead, even if we destroy Voldemort's new body, this time, the Death Eaters know precisely what they need to do. And they won't readily believe he's dead this time around."

"We need to destroy the four remaining Horcruxes to make sure that when Voldemort is killed, he stays dead."

"But wouldn't there be six—"

"Two are already gone. Remember Dumbledore's hand? He got that injury attempting to destroy Marvolo's ring."

"Marvolo—his grandfather?" Hermione remembered.

Harry nodded. "Marvolo Gaunt. His daughter Merope was Voldemort's mother. The family lost its fortune, but held onto a few trinkets, one of which was the Gaunt family ring. Voldemort created his first Horcrux from it. Dumbledore found and destroyed it, although his hand got injured."

"But that's one," Hermione said. "What—"

"The diary," Harry supplied. "The one that possessed Ginny. It held a piece of Voldemort's soul in it. Dumbledore said it was gone when I put a basilisk fang through it."

"And the other four?"

"Well, Voldemort was big on symbolism, and Hogwarts was important to him. He wanted artifacts from each of the four founders. He definitely got a locket of Slytherin and a golden cup of Hufflepuff's. Dumbledore said that the only known artifact of Gryffindor is the sword I drew from the hat, and that it checked fine. However, he did think that Voldemort's pet snake is a Horcrux, too."

"A living—"

"Yes. Not too efficient, but better than nothing—Dumbledore thought it was an emergency precaution."

"You know, Slughorn should be sent to Azkaban for—"

"if we start arresting people who helped Voldemort inadvertently, we'll jail half the English wizarding population. Starting with myself. Voldemort used Slughorn."

"So," Hermione summed it up, "we have tow known, one possible, and one completely mysterious Horcrux."

"Yes," Harry agreed. "I think we should start with the locket. Dumbledore thought he found the place where Voldemort hid it. That's where we went that night. It was the place, all right, but someone—some R.A.B.—got there first. He says he'll destroy the Horcrux as soon as he can, but I don't think we should blindly trust him to have done that. At least not till we know who he was."

"Or she," Hermione interjected.

Harry agreed. "We need a list of all places that may have been important to Voldemort—where he'd try to hide Horcruxes."

"We'll, you know more about Voldemort's life than—"

"I know. I'll do it. You think I'm eager to leave and go out and face death?"

"No, of course not," Ron replied. "It's just, if it was me, I'd want to get this over with."

"I do," Harry said. "But I'll stay till Bill's wedding. At least someone's going to be happy."

"Harry, don't say that," Hermione chided him. "You can still be happy."

He remembered the birthday night he had spent with Parvati. "I'm trying to," he said.


	4. IV

"Care to dance, Ginny?"

"As long as your intentions are decent, Mr. Potter."

"Absolutely decent. I don't like sitting alone."

"Come on, Harry. Any girl here would be—"

"You know what I think about that."

"But you did find someone."

"Maybe," Harry said. He hoped that Parvati didn't get a new boyfriend by now.

"Do I know her?" Ginny asked.

"You might," he said. "Don't worry, Ginny. I'm not that fragile; I'll live. Let me worry about my love life, and you worry about yours. How're things?"

"We don't have much opportunity to contact each other. Owls are still not safe. Would you look at that!"

"What?" Harry turned to where Ginny was looking. Ron and Hermione were dancing extremely close together, looking like they were about to kiss.

At that moment, some twenty figures covered in hoods and dark cloaks appeared out of thin air. "DEATH EATERS!" someone yelled.

"Harry, don't!" Ginny shouted as Harry pushed her away, drew his wand, and rushed the attackers. Seeing this had no effect, she whipped out her own wand and followed.

A stream of curses flew towards them. "Ginny, duck!" Harry shouted, hurling several hexes in reply.

Ginny avoided getting hit and sent a few spells towards the Death Eaters. They joined Ron and Hermione, who stood back to back, defending themselves.

"_Protego!_" Harry, Ron, and Hermione shouted at once, and several curses impacted on their shield without effect.

"Charlie!" the voice of Mrs. Weasley roared over the fury of blasts. Harry glanced. Charlie was fighting four death eaters, who surrounded him on all sides.

"_Stupefy!_" Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny said, hitting all four. Charlie fell with them, and Mrs. Weasley rushed towards her son.

"Let's go," someone yelled, and the Death Eaters ran towards him. Harry, Ron, and Mr. Weasley each tried to stun some of them, but only Mr. Weasley managed to drop one.

"We've got to get him to St. Mungo's," Mr. Weasley choked as he looked at his injured son.

Professor Lupin approached them, carrying Tonks. "She's hurt, too."

"We'll escort you," Fred said.

"Where's Bill?"

"Here, Mum," Bill approached, supporting Fleur, and holding little Gabrielle with the other hand. Fleur's dress had been torn and her arm broken.

"Not a good start to married life, is eet?" she said.  
Mr. Weasley looked at her. "Remind me to tell you when Molly and I—"

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "Let's go to St. Mungo's. You, too." She gave a look towards Harry and his friends. Harry took Ginny's arm and Disapparated along with her.

At the hospital, Charlie was taking to the intensive care ward. "He'll have to spend a few weeks here, till his injuries heal, but your son will be all right," a mediwitch told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "We've been getting a lot of cases like this recently."

"What is it?" Harry asked. "Some sort of new Dark spell?"

The nurse looked at his forehead. Harry gave back a stare so hard that she flinched. "We have several cases like that here. They started appearing recently."

"Damn it," Harry said. "At least none of the Death Eaters were bigwigs. That's how we took them down so easily." He looked at Ron, Hermione and Ginny. They didn't dispute his assessment.

"I've got to go," Hermione said.

"Where?" Ron asked.  
"Well... my parents made me promise I'd keep them in the loop. They do subscribe to the _Prophet_, they'll find out about this. And in the Muggle world, I'm not an adult yet. It was the only way they'd let me go."

"I'll go with you," Ron said.

"Ron, this—"

"Hermione—"

"I don't need protection, Ron!" she moved to Apparate.

"Yes, you do!" Ron shouted, and when Hermione turned to argue, he added, "We all do."

Hermione's expression turned from anger to bewilderment. "Ron?" she asked.

Harry stole a glance from a smiling Ginny. Ron put his arm around Hermione and they vanished.

"I better go check the Burrow," Ginny said. "There—"

"Harry, go with Ginny," Mrs. Weasley ordered.

"Mum, I—"

"It's okay, I'll go," Harry said. He looked at Ginny. "You can't Apparate, anyway."

"If anything happens, get to Order Headquarters. Someone'll be there," Mrs. Weasley told them.

Ginny let Harry take her hand and they left.

Except for the destroyed wedding decorations, the place appeared unchanged. Still, Harry and Ginny drew their wands, and, with great caution, inspected every room and the large yard. They found nothing. They were about to start cooking dinner when two distant pops sounded outside. Harry looked and smiled. The arrivals were the Patil twins. The sisters took out their wands and walked up to the house.

Ginny was about to run outside when Harry restrained her. "Careful!" he said. "They might be impostors!"

Ginny gave him a glare. "Harry, I—"

"Please, Ginny." Harry crouched and stepped outside, concealing himself.

"Hold it right there," he said. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"Harry!" Parvati exclaimed. "You know—"

"How do I know you aren't Death Eaters under Polyjuice?" he said. "Parvati, what did you see in the crystal ball?"

"Lots of stuff, just none of it made sense until it happened," Parvati said reluctantly.

"Sister!" Padma said, scandalously. "You—"

"Harry," Parvati interrupted, "what is the name of my ex-boyfriend whom we met at the—"

"Patrick Nelson," Harry said. "Come in. We're making dinner. Ginny, they're all right!"

"Ginny!" Padma rushed up to her girlfriend and kissed her. Harry felt a stab of anger, but then he turned to Parvati and smiled. "Come on," he said.

They remained outside while Ginny and Padma went into the house. Parvati looked at him. "So," she said.

"So," he replied.

"I've heard what happened. What were you thinking?"

Harry got angry. "Welcome to my life," he said. "Fighting Voldemort, defending the wizarding world—"

"Come in. There's more to it than that."

Harry nodded. "The Weasleys are my family. My _true_ family."

"And what about me?" Parvati asked.

Harry looked at her. "What?"

"Harry, I just don't understand you. Do you want to date me or not?"

Harry thought for a moment. "It's complicated, Parvati. If it wasn't for Voldemort, I'd date you in a second. But being my boyfriend is dangerous. Too many people put themselves into danger—too many people have died—because of me. I don't want you to be another one of them."

"I see," Parvati said. "So you'd like to do your hero thing and have me wait for you in safety, ready to welcome you home. A Penelope to your Odysseus, right?"

"Parvati—"

"That isn't happening, Harry. You—"

"I wasn't asking you to—"

"Then don't try to run my life for me, Harry. I want to be your girlfriend, I think I made that clear. I'll wait a few weeks, a month or two perhaps—but I won't wait forever. And I refuse to be left out!"

Harry certainly didn't expect that. "There are some things I'm not ready to tell you. Dumbledore made me promise to not tell anyone but Ron and Hermione." Parvati nodded as if expecting this.

"As for other information, I can tell you, but can it wait till Hogwarts?"

"Hogwarts might not even open," she replied.

"Then till our next meeting. I'm leaving, Parvati. I'm going to try to find a way to defeat Voldemort. I might not come back."

"And I can't—"

"Not yet, Parvati. Please don't try to tag along."

"I won't, I promise," she said, and then emphasized, "This _once_."

Harry looked dumbstruck. "Make no mistake, Parvati. I want you to be my girlfriend. It's—"

"Then let me be that," Parvati replied, and kissed him.

It was during the snog session that they were discovered.

"Harry!" Ginny shouted.

"Sister!" Padma yelled.

"So this is who you've been seeing," Ginny said smugly. "All the subterfuge..."

"Just where did you meet up?" Padma asked.

"Muggle night club," Padma answered.

Ginny glanced at her watch. "You two better go before my family discovers you. Thanks for coming, Padma." She kissed her.

Harry kissed Parvati. "Write to me, Harry," she whispered.

"I will," he promised.

The twins walked away beyond the wards and Disapparated. Harry smiled at Ginny, who looked absentminded. "Ginny?" he asked. "You don't have a problem with me dating Parvati, do you?"

"No, Harry. I think it's great. It's just... how are we going to tell our girlfriends apart?"

Harry glanced at her. "You grew up with Fred and George, and you're asking that?"

"I'm not dating Fred or George!" she retorted.

"Don't worry, we'll learn quickly enough. I hope Hogwarts reopens," he said quietly. "I'm not looking forward to showing them Grimmauld Place."

"Them?" Ginny asked.

"If I'm going to tell Parvati, I might as well let you, Padma, Neville and Luna know. Ron and Hermione know already, of course..."

"Who else?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head. "Only Dumbledore did."

XXX

Ron and Hermione stood slightly behind Harry in the middle of an empty square. There was nothing left of the house where Harry's parents lived, and yet Harry couldn't make an effort to leave the place.

They'd already been to the cemetery, looked at the graves of Lily and James Potter, and returned here. The sun was setting. Harry shook his head. Ron and Hermione had waited too long for him.

"Let's go," he said.

"Grimmauld?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. He'd put off the Horcrux hunt for too long.

As soon as they got back, he started getting food ready. "I found something there," he said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

Harry held up a short, worn out wand. "My mother's," he said.

"How do you know?"

"Ollivander told me. Swishy, made of willow. Nine and a quarter inches. Nice wand for charm work. This is it."

"You're going to keep it?" Ron asked.

"Why not?" Harry said, defensively.

"Well... people are usually buried with their wands," he said. "I'm surprised your—"

"My dad was, I think. But I don't think they found this one."

"Harry," Hermione said as they ate, "you wouldn't know Sirius' brother's middle name?"

Harry was surprised at the question. "You couldn't find it? Slughorn told me. It was Arcturus. Wait," he realized. "You don't think—"

"R.A.B. Regulus Arcturus Black."

Harry nearly choked on his food. Ron did the same. "Hermione!" they both yelled.

"Harry, I know Sirius didn't think much of his brother—"

"He thought he was an idiot who bought into all the pure-blood crap—"

"Yes. But isn't it possible that he realized what Voldemort was—"

"Dumbledore gave a second chance to Snape. Look how—"

"Shouldn't we explore the possibility—"

"How?" Ron demanded. "Regulus is dead, so is Sirius, and the rest of his family—"

"There's Andromeda Tonks," Hermione said.

"Actually," Harry said, "there's someone closer to home."

"What?"

"I don't like this. And Hermione, you won't either. But it's probably the best lead we've got."

Hermione looked at him. "Harry, you don't mean—Kreacher?"

Harry nodded. "Kreacher!" he yelled.

The old house-elf appeared out of thin air. "Foul half-blood Master wants to give Kreacher orders, to do harm to Pureblood wizards, if only Kreacher's poor mistress—"

"Kreacher, you're going to answer my questions, and you're going to tell the truth," Harry said.

"Kreacher has to obey the Potter boy, oh, Kreacher wants—"

"Kreacher, do you know anything about Regulus Black?"

"Kreacher knows a lot about his good master, much better than his foul brother, oh, why did he have to be the younger—"

"Kreacher," Harry interrupted, "where was Regulus in the days preceding his death?"

"Kreacher doesn't know. Kreacher won't tell Potter boy—"

"What was the last time he was here?" Ron asked.

"Kreacher doesn't have to obey the blood-traitor—"

"Kreacher, from now on, if Ron or Hermione give you orders, you obey them as if I did it. Answer his question."  
"Harry, I—"

"Good young master was here four days before he died."

"How did he come?"

"Apparated—"

"What was he like."

"Young master looked hurt. Kreacher offered to take care of him, but Master refused. Kreacher—"

"What did he bring with him?" Harry asked.

"His cloak, his wand, his—"

"Anything that wasn't _his_, that was unusual?"

"A big golden locket."

"What did he do with it?"

"Kreacher doesn't know. Master locked himself in his room."

"Then how do you know he brought the locket?"

"Kreacher saw through keyhole."

"Why did you spy on him."

"Kreacher's young mistress ordered him to."

"Which one?" Hermione prompted.

"The oldest, the good Pureblood—"

"Bellatrix," Hermione said. "What did Regulus do?"

"Kreacher saw master perform a spell on the locket. Kreacher doesn't know what the spell it was. Kreacher didn't hear him say anything.

"Nonverbal?" Harry asked.

"Kreacher doesn't know. Kreacher heard nothing but buzzing. When Kreacher's young mistress found out, Kreacher had to punish himself—"

"_Muffliato_," Harry said. "So Regulus knew Snape's spells."

"Kreacher, did Regulus take the locket with him?"

"No, young master hid it here—"

"Where?" Harry demanded. "Bring it to me."

Kreacher vanished and reappeared with an enormous locket in one hand, on a long golden chain. Harry recognized it immediately. This was, no doubt, the real Slytherin's locket.

"Thank you, Kreacher," Hermione said.

"Kreacher doesn't need gratitude from the filthy Mudblood—"

Hermione had to restrain Ron from attacking the house-elf.  
"Just go back to Hogwarts, Kreacher," Harry said, taking the locket.

Kreacher vanished. Harry held the locket up to the light and inspected it. "I wonder how you can determine if the Horcrux in there is destroyed," he said.

"Regulus seemed confident enough in that note," Hermione said. "He probably knew how to do it."

Harry was skeptical. "Dumbledore lost a hand destroying the ring Horcrux," he said.

"Yeah, but you weren't harmed by the diary," Hermione countered.

"I didn't touch it at that point, or use a wand. We don't have a Basilisk fang lying around."

"So what do we do with it?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "Put it somewhere safe till we can determine for sure."

Hermione turned on the wireless. "And in other news, another meeting of the Hogwarts board of governors ended in gridlock over the question of whether to reopen the school in the fall. The school always billed itself as the safest place for young witches and wizards, and this now becomes questionable with the death of its respected Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Acting Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall—"

"McGonagall!" Hermione exclaimed. "She might now how to determine—"

"I don't think so. Dumbledore didn't tell her—"

"Horcruxes sound somewhat like Transfiguration," Hermione reasoned.

Harry shook his head. "Dumbledore—"

"You don't have to tell her the whole thing. Just... ask a few questions. And I think we should see her anyway."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"To support her. We want Hogwarts to reopen, don't we? So does she. I think we can help."

"You mean, Harry's opinion can sway the governors," Ron said.

Harry looked at him. "I think my influence is overestimated. All right."

"If anyone can help us, it's McGonagall. You said You-Know-Who placed his Horcruxes in places of significance to him. And Hogwarts was the most important place in his life."

"I'll write to McGonagall," Hermione said. "She won't let just anyone in these days."

"We'd better get some sleep," Ron suggested. "Any meeting with McGonagall is bound to be exhausting."

XXX

Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited in the Grimmauld Place living when Professor McGonagall Apparated in. When Hermione wrote and suggested they visit her, she replied that a meeting here would be safer.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Mir. Weasley. "Your mother," she nodded to Ron, "refuses to give me any Order work."

"Hello, Professor," Harry said.

McGonagall greeted him. "Miss Granger, you said you wanted to talk to me. I presume this is important?"

"Will Hogwarts reopen?" Hermione asked.

McGonagall sighed. "I thought you three weren't coming back."

Harry looked at Hermione. "You didn't—"

"Miss Granger didn't reveal any secrets," McGonagall said. "You said this yourself, and I figured that Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger would go along."

"Professor, whether or not we come back is one thing, but can we? Will—"

"The governors essentially put the decision in my hands. If I make a public statement assuring the safety of all students, they'll permit it to reopen. You understand that I am... reluctant to make such a statement."

"Dumbledore wouldn't either," Ron said. "Hogwarts was never exactly safe... Quirrel... my sister... a werewolf teaching... Cedric..." Ron stopped when Harry gave him a shocked look. He hated using the past like this, but he had expected Hermione to bring this up.

McGonagall looked ruffled. "The governors didn't like all that either. But Dumbledore commanded respect. And even if we reopen, how many people will send their children to Hogwarts?"

"If you don't open, no one will," Hermione said. "It's what Voldemort wants. No organized education, so it's easier to turn young people to the Dark Arts."

"Is that what I tell the governors?" McGonagall asked. "Not exactly a ringing endorsement."

"No," Harry said. "Tell the governors that _the Chosen One_ will be at Hogwarts this year."

"Harry!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed.

"What?" It'd be easier to be at Hogwarts. We'll probably have to do more research into Voldemort's story. We might have to leave for a few days, but I've been considering returning anyway."

McGonagall looked at him. "Mr. Potter, you're asking me to gamble on your ability to protect the school—"

"The entire wizarding world is gambling on me, Professor," Harry said. "Your chances of the gamble paying off might increase if you actually do something."

"I presume that was a jab at the Ministry, Mr. Potter." McGonagall smiled. "But remember, your return will be public if I do that."

Harry nodded. "It can't be helped. Voldemort has enough spies at Hogwarts so that it won't be a secret for long."

McGonagall reached into her pocket. "In that case, I believe this is rightfully yours, Miss Granger." She pulled out the Head Girl badge.

"Oh! Thanks, Professor." Hermione blushed. "What about the Head Boy—"

McGonagall paused. "I'm sorry for you two, but in these times, giving out both positions to Gryffindor students will be seen as blatant favoritism. And, _by grades alone_," she emphasized, "there are better candidates. I would also agree with Dumbledore that you, at least, Potter, seem to have enough on your plate at the moment."

Harry didn't really care. "Congratulations, Hermione," he said. "One more thing, Professor. Could you help us analyze this?" He held up the locket.

McGonagall took the piece of jewelry, took out her wand...

"Careful, Professor," Harry said, remembering Dumbledore's withered hand.

McGonagall tapped the locket. As soon as she did that, she dropped both it and her wand.

"Where did you get this?!" she yelled.

"Professor—"

"Where, Potter?"

"Here, in Grimmauld Place. Why—"

"How did you get your hands on—"

"A Horcrux?" Harry prompted.

That stopped McGonagall in her tracks. "You know what a Horcrux is?"

All three nodded.

"How?" McGonagall looked a them with fear.

"I told them," Harry said.

"And how did you—"

"Dumbledore," he said. "He told me about this."

"For heaven's sake, why—"

"Professor, since you seem to know about this, what can you tell us about this _particular_ Horcrux?" Hermione asked.

"Someone destroyed the piece of the soul that this locket contained. A lot of energy had been drained in doing that."

"It's gone?" Harry asked.

McGonagall nodded. "Good," he said.

"Good?" McGonagall replied.

"Very good. This was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes."

"Is this why Dumbledore told you—"

Harry nodded.

"Hold on, Mr. Potter. You said _one of_..."

"Voldemort's," Harry supplied.

"...Yes, his," McGonagall continued, a bit fazed, "Horcruxes. You mean there were more than one?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "Dumbledore told Harry that Voldemort is unique in that aspect."

"He certainly is. Do you know—"

"What they are? We have suspicions," Harry said. "We do know how many there were in total. This is the third one that was destroyed, and there are three whole ones left."

"Three left... does that mean—" McGonagall couldn't hide her surprise.

Harry grimly nodded. "Seven pieces. The six Horcruxes and Voldemort's body."

"Professor," Hermione asked, "do you know who to destroy a whole Horcrux?"  
McGonagall looked at her. "I'm lucky enough that I never had to do it. I have no idea what will happen if I perform that spell. Dumbledore's hand wasn't, by any chance—"

"Injured in destroying a Horcrux? Indeed it was, Professor," Harry replied. "I hope we see each other at Hogwarts on September 1st," he added and smiled.


	5. V

"We'll be all right, Mum," Ron assured a crying Mrs. Weasley as they boarded the Hogwarts Express.

"Be careful. All of you," she said, looking especially intently at Harry. "I know you're adults and all, but—"

"We'll be back, Mrs. Weasley. Don't worry. You're running the order, it's not like we'll be out of touch. Won't we, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Come on. The train is about to leave."

They boarded. "One good thing this year," Ron said as he and Hermione headed towards the prefect car. "No Malfoy and no Snape."

"That's two things," Hermione said.

"I'd rather have them inside Hogwarts than out there," Harry grumbled. "I'll wait for you," he said, and joined Neville and Luna, who, as usual, sat alone.

"Hi, Harry," Neville said.

"Hello," Luna greeted him.

"Hey. You decided to come back?"

"Of course. Grandma would kill me if I ditched."

Luna didn't say anything, but put her arm around Neville. Understanding, Harry nodded.

They spent about an hour speculating on the identity of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and which of their previous teachers was the worst (Neville and Luna thought it was Umbridge, while Harry insisted on Snape) when Hermione ran into the compartment, looking terrified. "Harry!" she yelled. "You won't believe—"

"What the hell are you doing?!" Ron's voice bellowed in the hallways of the car so loud that people's heads popped out of every compartment.

"I thought we—" Ginny's voice started.

Harry immediately realized what happened. "Excuse me," he told Neville and Luna. "Come on, Hermione."

When they got to Ron, they saw exactly what Harry was afraid of. Ron, anger in his face, was holding a wand on Ginny, who was shielding Padma Patil with her body.

"I didn't mean—" Ron was saying.

Harry and Hermione grabbed Ron and pushed him into an empty compartment—unlike the previous two years, there were plenty of those. Harry firmly pushed Ron into a seat.

"What're you doing?" he demanded.

"I could ask you the same question," Harry said.

"I saw Ginny..."

"Snogging? Like last year—"

"No!" Ron replied. "Not like last year. She was snogging a _girl_."

Hermione gasped. Harry looked at her, then turned back to Ron. "So?" he said.

"So—wait. You knew?" He glared at both of them.

"I didn't—" Hermione protested.

"Yes," Harry said. "I knew."

"And you didn't tell me—"

"Why should I have? Ginny—"

"Is my sister!"

"She's also my friend," Harry said. "And she—"

The compartment door opened and Parvati stepped in. Ron leaped up.

"Stay away from my sister, you freak!"

Harry reacted without thinking. He punched Ron, bringing him down into the seat, and slammed the door into Parvati's face. "Never," he said, brandishing his wand, "call anyone a freak when I'm around." He stood up to leave.

"Harry! You're leaving me alone with this Neanderthal?" Hermione yelled.

"You have my permission yo use any curse you deem necessary, up to and including the Unforgivables," Harry said, and left the compartment.

The door behind which Ron found his sister and Padma was now closed. Harry knocked. "Ginny, it's me," he said.

"Come in," Ginny said quietly.

Harry entered. He found not just Ginny and Padma, but Parvati as well. Harry looked at her. "I apologize—"

"No need." Parvati embraced him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. I didn't do anything dangerous—unless you count punching Ron."

"What's going to happen now?" Padma asked.

"It depends on Hermione's persuasive skills," Harry said. "Either Ron will come crawling back, begging for forgiveness, or—"

"Or what?" Ginny looked at him with fear.

"Or he'll tell your parents," Harry said.

"I was afraid of that. And then—"

"What will your other brothers think?"

"What?"

"Bill. Charlie. Fred. George. What will they think if they found out?"

"I don't know. Bill is most likely to be okay with it. Fred and George might think it's a big joke. Charlie's still at St. Mungo's, and I wouldn't burden him with this sort of thing now. What're you suggesting? That I tell them?"

Harry nodded. "It'll be better than if they found out from Ron."

"Damn," Ginny said. "Damn, damn, damn."

"Ginny, I'm on your side. As, I'm sure, Hermione will be."

"She's Ron's girlfriend," Ginny protested.

"As much as I would like them to be together, I wouldn't hesitate to tell her to break it off now. I don't like it very much when people call someone 'freak'."

"He called us freaks?" Padma asked.

"Indirectly. He actually called Parvati a freak, when she thought she was you. That's why I punched him, and left Hermione to deal with the rest."

When all three stared at him, Harry explained. "The Dursleys always called me 'freak' because I could do magic," he said. "I guess I just reacted."

"You don't have to justify yourself, Harry. It's good to release your feelings once in a while." She gave him a peck on the lips.

Harry chuckled. "Was that, as you put it, a 'release of your feelings'?"

Parvati winked. "It was. I'd like to do more, but—" She gestured at the Ginny and Padma— "let's wait until we don't have an audience."

Harry grinned. "See what I have to put up with?" he said.

"She's got nothing on Ginny," Padma replied.

"Padma!" Ginny exclaimed. "Don't listen to her, Harry. I'm a very nice girl."

"Maybe she is," Parvati whispered in Harry's ear, "but I'm nicer."

Harry kissed her. "I'm too scared to disagree."

XXX

"See you later, Padma," Ginny said in the Great Hall when they had to split by house tables. Hermione quickly joined Harry, Ginny, and Parvati. She looked angry and frustrated.

"Your brother is—Urgh! Why is it so—"

"Face it, Hermione," Harry said. "You're in love with the git."

"Harry, that's—"

"I have to agree," Parvati joined the conversation.

"Parvati?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione!" Harry said.

Hermione ignored him. "Why are you hugging Harry? Is the—"

"Yes, we're dating," Parvati said, looking at Harry. "But what you saw was quite real. Ginny's—"

"Padma," Hermione realized. Ginny nodded.

"May I have your attention, please," the voice of Professor McGonagall echoed in the Great Hall, which quickly grew quiet.

"First, I have to commend the courage of the students who returned to these halls despite the dark times we live in," she said. Harry looked around and saw that she was right. Two out of eight Gryffindors in their year, Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnigan, weren't here. The Slytherin table was barely half-filled.

"Most of you know, from last year, Professor Slughorn," she said, "who had agreed to take the post of Deputy Headmaster and head of Slytherin." This was met with mild applause.

"Our second staff member is also returning to his former post. Please welcome, once again, Remus Lupin as our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

This was met with cheers from most of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, and silence from Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Harry couldn't believe it when he saw Lupin pull off his hood.

"Well, this is a welcome change from the ones we've had since he left," Ginny said.

Hermione almost ignored the announcement. "What's wrong?" Parvati asked.

"Well, in the Prefect car, we found out who the Head Boy is."

"And?"

"Blaise Zabini," she said. "Right there—"

"I know him," Harry mumbled. "Well, not personally—he'd consider me a blood traitor, or more likely, a filthy half-blood. What was McGonagall thinking?"

"I don't think she really had a choice. She couldn't give it to a Gryffindor because of me, and Ernie MacMillan, Anthony Goldstein, and Malfoy aren't here."

Harry nodded. "Don't worry about me," Hermione insisted. "Come on."

They got up to their common room and bid Hermione and Ginny off. "I still don't understand how you can date Harry and Padma—"

"What, Hermione," Parvati said, "never heard of bisexuality?"

She flushed. "Of course, but you—"

"Don't worry, Hermione. You're not my type. Besides, I know perfectly well what _your_ type is, and it doesn't resemble me in the slightest."

"And just what would that be?"

"Tall. Red hair. Lot's of freckles," Harry said, and Ginny and Parvati laughed. "Now if only he could stop being a git..."

He was interrupted by Ron's entrance into the common room. He looked furious.

"I think you better go," Harry told Parvati.

"Agreed." She headed up, almost dragging Hermione and Ginny behind.

"Having fun at the expense of stupid Ron Weasley, is that it?" Ron asked.

"I think your sister's dating habits—"

"Dating? You call that dating? The way Parvati hung on you, I'd say—"

"In case you forgot, the Patil sisters are twins. Parvati's my girlfriend. Padma's Ginny's."

"That's nonsense. My sister is not a—"

"A what?"

"I accepted her dating Dean. I didn't like it, but I—"

"And why—"

"'Cause she's with a girl—"

"So you'd rather have her date Malfoy than Padma," Harry said.

That seemed to stop Ron. "I'd rather have her date you. Don't—"

"She's not interested. She won't be. There's no point in—"

"But you—"

"I like Ginny. And not entirely platonically. But—"

"And your girlfriend—"

"Parvati knows. She was the first to figure it out. So—"

Ron then lost control completely. "My sister is not a dyke! You talk so much about defeating You-Know-Who, and—"

"What does that—"

"How will dating a useless airhead defeat—"

"Parvati is not an airhead!" Harry protested. "And what's your dating status with Lav-Lav?"

"What?"

"I happen to know a certain someone—"

"Who supports my sister in this—"

"And that should tell you something! The girl we're talking about is certainly not, as you put it, 'an airhead'! She knows Ginny, and she knows Padma better than you. So do I. If you're concerned about Ginny, trust me, guy or girl, Ginny could do a lot worse. What would you say if it was Pansy Parkinson?"

"There—"

"Goodnight, Ron."

"I'll write to Mum—"

"Take my advice: don't. Goodnight, Ron," he repeated, and headed upstairs to bed. He had hoped that he would succeed where Hermione failed, but that hope now seemed foolish.

XXX

The next day, breakfast in the Great Hall was a source of mass commotion. First, new schedules got distributed. Harry and Hermione's schedules haven't change, but Parvati chose to add charms to her studies. When Harry suggested she drop Divination, she gave him an icy glare and had Harry apologize at least twenty times.

"How are you going to decide what to take?" Harry asked Ginny. "I mean, there were no O.W.L.s last year."

Ginny shrugged. "Just stuff I like. I'm dropping Herbology and Astronomy. And I never really enjoyed Arithmancy, so—" Hermione looked scandalized by that assertion.

Then, the owls delivered the morning mail. A note fell in front of Harry. He glanced at it, but didn't recognize the writing. Before he could read it, though, he heard a gasp from Ginny.

"No," she said. "No..."

A red envelope was smoldering in front of her.

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" her mother's voice boomed. "What were you thinking, bringing shame upon our family. I will be writing to this Padma's parents to put an end to—"

"_Silencio,_" Harry said, and Mrs. Weasley voice vanished. Ginny was blushing horribly. At the Ravenclaw table, Padma buried her face in her hands.

Harry turned to Parvati. "What if she does tell your parents?"

"Oh, they know," Parvati said. "They were dead-set against us coming back here, but a lesbian relationship—no problem. It's Ginny's family that's an obstacle."

"Perhaps not everyone in the family," Harry said. "Ginny, did—"

She nodded. "No response yet. But now, everyone will know—"

"Not the details," Hermione said. "Thanks, Harry."

He nodded. "I better get to class," he said, "but there's one more thing that needs to be done."

Harry got up, walked across the entire Hall to where Ron was sitting, and walked past,not looking at him. "I hope you're happy," he threw out, making sure almost everyone heard it.

Once in the hall, Harry finally turned his mind back to the note he received.

_Mr. Potter:_

_We need to meet tonight. Come to the third floor, next to the tallest suit of armor. Make sure no one sees you._

_T.A.N._


	6. VI

At seven o'clock, Harry, not telling Hermione or Parvati, put on his invisibility cloak and headed to the third floor. He got a bit surprise at the suit of armor the note indicated. Harry recognized two people, a boy and a girl, as Slytherin students from his year. The boy, he was pretty sure, was Theodore Nott, but he couldn't remember the girl's name.

"I still think this is a stupid idea, Theo," she said.

Nott shook his head. "I don't see another way. I'm not—"

"He's still a Gryffindor. And a Potter."

"That's right, I am," Harry said, taking off his cloak and pointing his wand at Nott. "You called me here. Why?"

"Hey, Potter," the girl said, "lay off."

"Who're you?" he asked.

"Daphne Greengrass," she replied. "This is my boyfriend, Theodore Nott."

"I know who you are," he told Nott. "I also know who your father is."

Nott grew angry. "Not all of us have the luxury of freedom to think what we will of our parents."

"Luxury?!" Harry nearly cursed Nott.

"Theo—"

"I know, Daph. Potter, I'd like you to come into our common room."

"I don't understand," Harry said.

"First, I want you to look at what's going on."

Harry thought for a moment. Nott's father was a Death Eater. Then again, everything was too strange. And what part did Daphne Greengrass play here? He might find out something useful—he did so last year, when he eavesdropped on Malfoy and other Slytherins. He paid for that information with a broken nose, but that seemed a small price now.

"Just remember, I've dueled with Voldemort. If you try anything—" He tapped his finger with his wand.

"Just put the cloak on and follow us, Potter," Nott said.

"How did you know I had an invisibility cloak?" Harry asked.

Nott turned. "Malfoy," he said. "He boasted quite a bit last year how he cornered you spying on him."

Harry nodded , and followed Nott and Greengrass, under the cloak. All this made very little sense, and he wanted to know more.

"Morin Vale," Nott said. A piece of a stone wall, richly decorated by snakes, opened, and Harry stepped in.

He had been here before, Polyjuiced into Goyle, but he didn't really look around then. If it wasn't for the decorations, Harry wouldn't have guessed this was the Slytherin common room. The only significant difference from the Gryffindor counterpart was the absence of cheer in either the atmosphere or the occupants.

Pansy Parkinson looked up, saw Nott and Greengrass, and lay back on her couch. Nott sat down on the sofa across from her, and opened a book. Greengrass lay down on her stomach, placed her feet on her boyfriend's lap, and turned her attention to a chessboard at the head of the couch.

There were few students, and most looked a bit afraid, and gave the seventh years a wide berth. Harry remembered that Blaise Zabini was Head Boy, but apart from him, Nott, Greengrass, and Pansy Parkinson were the only ones from his year. Harry decided that Millicent Bulstrode's parents didn't let her come back. The absence of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle didn't need an explanation.

The outside door opened and Blaise Zabini walked in, followed by a throng of admirers. Pansy scooted over, and Blaise sat down on her couch.

"May I have your attention, please," Zabini said, standing up and facing the front of the common room.

Almost all students looked up. Zabini was tall, handsome, had an imposing appearance, and prominently displayed his Head Boy badge. Only a few students went back to their previous activities, Nott and Greengrass among them.

"As your Head Boy, it is my duty to inform you that you are the future of the wizarding world."

Harry stumbled. Why did Nott want him to hear this?

"A lot of people, in this school, in the Ministry, think you are idiots. Slytherins have produced the finest wizards in Britain for a thousand years, they didn't do that by stupidity.

"Those who think you are idiots," Zabini continued, "will try to drag you into their so-called war. That's the height of stupidity. Let the dark Lord kill all the Mudbloods and blood traitors. Then, real wizards will be in charge. You have seen what a lack of good Slytherins leads to. We've now got a blood-traitor for a Head of House, a Mudblood for a Headmistress, and a—"

At this point, Nott quietly put his book down. "Zabini, shut up," he said.

"Oh. It's you. Your father—"

"I told you to shut up!" Nott yelled. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Slytherins in general aren't idiots, true, but _you_ are."

Pansy got up and stood at Zabini's side. "Nott, you know Draco—"

"I don't care about Malfoy, Parkinson. Zabini's full of it. He thinks he'll be a leader in the wizarding world."

"And what of it?" Zabini demanded.

"Oh, nothing." Greengrass rose on her couch. "Just that if you let the Dark Lord 'kill all the blood-traitors and Mudbloods', he'll be in charge after that. Not you."

"Since then did you become Dumbledore's mouthpiece, Greengrass?" Pansy demanded.

"If Dumbledore said magic exists, would you deny it?" the other girl retorted.

"What's your problem, Nott? Go fight the Dark Lord—"

"I've got a problem. You're talking out of your arse. You know nothing about the Dark Lord. Neither do they." He pointed around the room. "If they do as you say, it's liable to get them killed."

"As Head Boy, I'll—"

"What?" Nott said, and Harry couldn't help but be impressed with the speed Nott pulled out his wand and pointed it at Zabini.

Pansy and Blaise drew their wands.

"Ministry decrees can prove useful, Nott," Zabini hissed. "A son of a Death Eater, attacking a fellow student... after what happened last year..."

"Don't try it, Zabini," Daphne Greengrass joined Nott.

The entire house began forming into two groups behind the seventh year students, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson on one side, Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass on the other.

"Go fight the Dark Lord, Nott. Even if you live, Potter will get all the credit. Our Mudblood Headmistress and the Ministry will see to it." Blaise left and headed upstairs.

Nott silently cursed. "Now, Theo," Daphne Greengrass said. "You knew—"

"He's deluding himself, Daph. I used to be like that," he whispered.

"I know. Come on."

Nott and Greengrass headed outside. Harry followed, and took off the cloak as soon as the door shut.

"It's late, Potter, so lets' save the discussion for tomorrow. I'm lucky Greengrass is here, or Zabini would get suspicious why I left."

Daphne blushed. "Can we meet tomorrow evening?"

"Sure," Harry answered. He thought about the location. "Quidditch locker rooms," he decided. "They're not holding the tournament this year, so it'll be empty."

"All right, Potter. See you then," Nott said, and departed arm in arm with Greengrass. Harry put his cloak back on and headed the other way.

XXX

Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass entered the locker room sometime after eight.

"Where is he?" Nott asked.

"Right here," Harry replied, taking off the cloak and revealing himself on his broomstick, hovering next to the ceiling.

He landed. "We'd better hurry. My girlfriend freaked out last night when I returned at one in the morning. What's the meaning of all this?"

Not looked at him. "Potter, what conclusion would you draw from what you saw last night?"

Harry had thought about this for almost the whole day. "I'd say there's a civil war in your house."

Nott and Greengrass nodded. "That's precisely what I concluded."

"I've been telling you this forever, Theo."

"I know. I learned eventually, didn't I?"

"Please explain carefully."

"The 'civil war', as you put it, Potter," Greengrass said, "has started the moment the Dark Lord came back. With so many children of Death Eaters, with one of them running the House, it was inevitable."

"Daph, I'm one of those 'children of Death Eaters', in case you forgot."

"I didn't. But I think you should tell Potter why—"

"I will. Potter, I will only tell this once. Even two years ago. I'd not even talk to you. But then, when the Dark Lord came back, we've had Umbridge. I was expected to get into the Inquisitorial Squad and basically be Malfoy's dog. Crabbe and Goyle may be stupid enough to do that, but I'm not. And then, Daphne was caught breaking one of her idiotic decrees. I stepped up for her, got an Umbridge detention—you know what that is, Potter." Harry didn't even bother asking how and only raised his hand, showing the still-visible _I will not tell lies._

"—and I've had enough. And then I come come, and my father's never home 'cause he's out there serving the Dark Lord, and can be killed _by either side_ at any moment, and I see Malfoy, who's expected to replace his father if something happens—as it did. My mother's gone abroad to stay safe. Only I know where.. and I... well, Malfoy's right about one thing. If the Dark Lord takes over, nothing will make a difference but how you served him. I didn't serve him, and I have no intention to. Zabini think he can win by staying neutral. Knowing my father, knowing how the Dark Lord operates, I know that's nonsense." He paused. "I want the Dark Lord to be defeated."

Harry looked at him. "That still doesn't explain why you came to me. There's—"

"I thought you were smart, Potter," Greengrass said.

"You've figured out there is a civil war—"

"And you want to win it," Harry realized.

"Until this year, we had no chance. Snape was in charge, Malfoy was running the show, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson followed his whims—and you saw Zabini yourself. But we have a chance now. And I'd like my chances of success to increase."

"So you want my help," Harry said. "But what do you think I can do? I'm not exactly likely to persuade Slytherin students—"

"No," Greengrass agreed. "But you can persuade students from other houses that not all of us are Malfoys. If they know people from other houses—make friends, contacts—"

"Date," Nott interrupted.

She blushed. "I'm over that, Theo. The point is, it's hard for a Slytherin to do this now. And you can help with that."

"I'll try," he said. In his mind, he already had a possible idea. "I'll get back to you in a few days. Meanwhile, can you tell me if Zabini tries anything unusual? It's quite possible he's been put under the Imperius Curse."

"He wasn't, I'm pretty sure," Nott said. "Zabini has always been a bit... self-impressed."

"He asked me out, and freaked when I refused," Greengrass added.

Harry nodded. "Thanks. I'll try to contact you as soon as possible. The Ministry isn't intercepting intraschool owls, so I'll just write a note."

Nott and Greengrass agreed, bid him goodbye, and left. Harry did the same.

When he got back to the Gryffindor tower, he found Parvati and Hermione waiting for him. Both were angry.

"Second night in a row!" Hermione said. "Where were you?"

"Hey, I didn't do anything dangerous. I didn't even leave the school."

"The two are not the same. Where?" Parvati demanded. "You're not seeing someone else, are you?"

"Of course not. Please, Parvati. I'll tell you."

"And—"

"And you, Hermione. This is related to the fight against Voldemort."

"What?" Hermione demanded. "What did you—"

"No important information," Harry said. "However, I'll need your help."

"In what?" Parvati asked, still angry.

"I think it's long overdue," Harry said quietly, "that we have another meeting of the D.A."

XXX

Next Wednesday, harry and Hermione waited in the empty Defense classroom Professor Lupin and McGonagall agreed to lend them.

Harry worried that no one they didn't really know would come, and that he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to Nott and Greengrass this way. Hermione tried to find out where he'd been for two nights last week, but Harry avoided answers.

Parvati walked in, kissed Harry, and sat down on one of the desks. Next came Hannah Abbot and Terry Boot. Luna Lovegood floated in, greeted Harry in a lyrical voice, and sat down cross-legged on the floor. Neville, Dean, and Ron walked in five minutes later. Neville sat down next to Luna and took her hand. Padma and Ginny entered right after, and, ignoring a glare from Ron, stood next to Hermione. Harry was about to open the meeting when Zacharias Smith strode in, looked the group over, and headed to the back of the room without a word. Harry shrugged and closed the door.

"Welcome back," Harry said. "I hope you understand why you're here."

"I don't," Zacharias Smith protested. "We started meeting so we could pass O.W.L.s. Now that we've got—"

"Then you really don't understand why. Next year, most of us will be outside Hogwarts, on our own. When Death Eaters—"

"You want us to fight for you, Potter. I have no intention of risking my hide. There are Aurors—"

"I'm not asking anyone to fight for me. _Anyone_. But you may end up having to fight whether or not you want to. Death Eaters do not attack only Aurors, you know. You're free to leave. At this point, we're here to exchange knowledge that'll help us survive this war. In that interest, I suggest we welcome two new members." With that, Harry reached and pulled the invisibility cloak off Nott and Greengrass.

Several students gasped. "What?" Dean demanded. "They're Slytherins!"

"So?" Hermione said. "Harry, were—"

He nodded. "They asked me to help them make the rest of their house see the light. Who was I to say no?"

"And with Blaise as Head Boy, they're going to need all the help they can get," Hermione muttered.

"His father's a Death Eater!" Ron shouted.

Harry turned and walked up to him. "Oh, yes. All family members think alike. Your own family is a stellar example of that." A burst of laughter came from the room. Ron looked like he could kill Harry.

"I think we should welcome them," Harry said firmly.

"But Slytherins—" Dean tried again.

"Slughorn's a Slytherin," Harry said. "Enough. We're here to share knowledge. For instance, Nott has told me about a very useful spell that certainly won't be taught in any course. If you will."

Nott stepped up. "Try to disarm me," he said.

"We all know _Expelliarmus_, Nott," Ron said.

"Then try—"

"_Expelliarmus!_" Ron shouted.

The spell did nothing.

"That only works in a duel, Weasley," Greengrass said.

"Well, this doesn't," Hermione replied. "_Accio Nott's Wand!_"

No wand came. Hermione tried again, with the same results.

Terry Boot, who was carefully scrutinizing Nott, shook his head.

"He doesn't have his wand on him."

A blue bolt hit Boot in the stomach. "Don't I?" Nott asked, still pointing his wand at him.

"How did you do this?" Padma asked.

For demonstration, Nott put the wand into his shoe, and, still holding it, said, "_Secretio wand_." Then he let go, and the wand vanished.

"This is a combination of the invisibility and protection charms. The summoning charm requires you to focus on the object's location. If you don't know where someone concealed the wand, you can't summon it."

Harry stepped in. "I presume that if you you're up against a skilled Legilimens, he can figure it out."

Nott nodded. "Nothing is foolproof."

"Take note of this," Harry turned to the rest. "Even something relatively simple may allow you to get an extra spell in when you need to. However, Voldemort _is_ a skilled Legilimens, as are several prominent Death Eaters, including Snape."

"But then, what's the point?" Hannah asked.

"I'm not the one to ask," Harry said. "I don't know Legilemency—but I suspect it's a complex branch of magic, which is difficult to learn, and , from what I know about Occlumency, very difficult to use in the heat of battle. The only ones whom I know can do it are Voldemort and Snape. And as for Voldemort... if you ever end up facing him—try to get away at any cost."

"Why?" Boot asked.

"Because only two people ever dueled with him and lived to tell about it—and I did so by sheer luck. Voldemort's more powerful than any of us. But he's even more powerful with Death Eaters alongside him, so I'm not telling you to run all the time."

Harry looked at his watch. "Same time next week," he said. "Think of something only you might know, and then you can share with the rest."

The students started to leave. "Parvati, where're you going?" Harry called out.

Half the club laughed. Parvati glared at him, but stayed behind. "_Colloportus_," she said when the last student (Ginny) got outside.

She smiled. "Oh, you'll pay for that, Potter."


	7. VII

D.A. meetings continued regularly throughout October. Harry taught the entire club _Muffliato_, but didn't risk showing anything else from Snape's book. Ron continued coming to meetings, but didn't talk to him. Harry missed Ron, but the few times he tried to talk about the club, Ron quickly changed the subject to the key issue, and Harry got even more frustrated. Ron's attitude made no sense to him at all.

Harry spent Halloween at Hogsmeade with Parvati and returned to the feast rather happy, and not entirely sober, either. At the same time, Hagrid and McGonagall went out of the way to increase the festivities, despite the gloom. It seemed to work—the students were rather cheerful. Even he could almost forget about Voldemort on a night like this. Almost.

Unfortunately, he had a reminder in front of him throughout the feast. The Head Boy, Blaise Zabini, appeared especially cheerful, and that didn't bode well. Nott and Greengrass, sitting across from Zabini, each gave Harry a somber nod and kept watching their fellow Slytherin and his admirers. When Hermione asked him what that was about, he shrugged.

The feast was nearly finished when Harry got a very odd feeling. He couldn't really explain what happened afterwards. Something, some force he couldn't resist, made him jump up. A moment later, an enormous snake fell to where he was sitting.

Harry pushed Parvati, who was closest to the snake, out of the way. Parvati nearly yelled at him, but then she saw the monster, almost seven feet long, black, with clearly visible poisonous fangs. Half the Gryffindor table screamed.

Harry recognized the snake. He had seen it at the graveyard, in his visions, and had once been it. This was Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake, and according to Dumbledore, possibly a Horcrux.

More people screamed. Harry saw the snake crawl onto the floor and towards the Hufflepuff table. It was about to lunge at Zacharias Smith, who was paralyzed with fear, when Harry yelled, "STOP!", hoping it would come out in Parseltongue.

The snake paused and turned towards him. Harry raised his wand. The first spell he could think of came out of his mouth.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" he yelled.

A flash of green light flew out of his wand and hit the snake. Nagini dropped still.

And then, searing pain like he hasn't felt for over a year hit his scar. Voldemort's anger was beyond anything he felt before, and Harry knew that the snake, indeed, contained a Horcrux—nothing else would cause Voldemort's such fury. The pain passed and Harry found himself on the floor, clutching the scar.

Parvati approached him, but McGonagall's booming voice stopped her. "Potter!" the Headmistress shouted. "My office, now! And take that with you!"

Harry understood what "that" referred to. He flung the snake over his shoulder and walked to the door. Students threw strange looks at him. Harry, after thinking for a moment about what he'd just done, couldn't blame them.

McGonagall said nothing until they entered the office that Harry knew so well. The room has already changed, Fawkes the phoenix was gone, and Harry got a reminder of his situation in the form of Dumbledore's enormous portrait that hung on the wall, right behind McGonagall's desk.

McGonagall closed the door. "Just what were you thinking, using that spell in the hall? If that snake had moved—"

"The only way it would move is towards me. And this snake had to be killed."

"Why?"

"It's a Horcrux."

"A living Horcrux, Potter?" McGonagall asked skeptically.

Harry shrugged. "Dumbledore thought so. You can—"

"There is no need, Minerva," Dumbledore's portrait said from the wall.

McGonagall sat down in her chair and turned towards the painting. "Albus?"

"I have indeed believed that Nagini was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Hello, Harry," the portrait said.

"Hello, sir," Harry replied.

"What happened?"

"I killed the snake." He paused. "I used the killing curse."

"Harry, do you think I never cast that spell? Or that Professor McGonagall hasn't?"

McGonagall looked shocked. "Albus—"

"I will ask that you not inquire about the details of that incident. But as you no doubt already learned, Professor McGonagall is far more familiar with the Dark Arts than she lets on. But the central question here is why you did what you did. Why is that, Harry?" Both Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at him.

"Because... because I felt like there was nothing else I could do. I couldn't let the snake get away—"

"And you were quite right. Snakes can't be stunned, as you well know, Minerva."

"I knew that," Harry said. "Hermione must have mentioned it once or twice."

McGonagall smiled. "Since you saved students' lives, there will be no punishment. But you will have to deal with any student reaction yourself."

Harry nodded. As long as Hermione, Parvati, and Ginny stayed by him, and as long as this didn't affect his chances of making up with Ron, he didn't care.

"Professor," Harry said, not sure whom he was talking to, "when I killed the snake, my scar burst with pain. Why would Voldemort—"

"I believe," Dumbledore's portrait said, "that Voldemort was so angry that he lost mental control—and as you are well aware, Occlumency under these circumstances is impossible. He lost a Horcrux and he also learned that you are capable of using an Unforgivable curse. In his mind, that makes you a serious enemy. This is to your advantage, Harry, since that will make him more likely to miss your real strength."

"You may go, Potter," McGonagall said after a long silence.

"Good luck, Harry," Dumbledore's portrait said.

When Harry opened the door, he came face to face with Mr. Weasley. He was followed by Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, who was using a cane, Fred, George, and Ron. Only the twins gave Harry a smile.

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall," Mrs. Weasley said. "May we see our daughter?"

XXX

Harry knew what was happening. He stepped outside and bumped into Parvati. "Harry, I—"

"Find Padma and Ginny," he said.

Parvati nodded. Harry headed to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione met him. "Harry, the Weasleys—"

"I know," Harry replied.

"Did you get punished?"

He shrugged. "Not officially. But people will talk—"

"I don't care."

"Hermione—"

"Neither does Parvati. I asked her. Although... I hope you don't mind..."

"What, Hermione?"

"I told her and Ginny the snake was Voldemort's pet and that it's important for his plans."Harry knew he'd have to tell them something like that himself, so it didn't really bother him. "Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"I'll see how I can help Ginny."

"Harry, I don't—"

"I'm not sitting here, waiting for the outcome." He left.

Hermione followed. "They're not going to let you in—"

"Trust me, Hermione." Harry increased his pace.

At the entrance to McGonagall's office, they found the Patil twins. Padma sat quietly on the stairs, with her sister's arms around her shoulders.

Harry headed up the staircase. "Wait here," he told Padma. "If all goes well, they might even want to see you."

He opened the door and found himself witnessing a strange scene. Fred, George, Bill, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood one side of the room. Ginny, supported by Charlie, were on the other. McGonagall stood behind her desk, sternly looking at everyone. The family was engaged in a heated discussion.

"Minerva, how can you—"

"I don't consider these matters any business of mine. I am busy enough running—"

"A bit unfair, don't you think?" Harry said. "Five against two."

"Harry, this is not—" Mrs. Weasley begun.

"You showed me, a complete stranger, kindness far beyond what I deserved. I don't understand why you would do this to your own daughter."

Mr. Weasley raised his voice. "You know nothing about raising child—"

"What I know about how _not_ to raise children could fill a library. I've experienced such treatment firsthand, so don't tell me that it is acceptable to be cruel to child because she's different from you."

"We just want what's—"

"What's best for her. Shouldn't she have a say? I've had people deciding things for me for sixteen years. It's not fun."

"You're being unreasonable," Bill said. "Our—"

"No, you're being unreasonable! What has the failure to accept t his brought you? Nothing but problems!"

"What problems?" Ron asked.

"The problems between you and Hermione, for starters," Harry said.

Ron blushed, but couldn't find a reply.

"What happened to the way you pined for Harry?" Bill asked Ginny.

"I never pined for him. Not much has changed. I love Harry," Ginny said, and Harry, not expecting this, looked at her in shock. "As a _friend_," she added.

"The time for arranged marriages is over, Dad," Charlie said.

Fred and George, who ignored the discussion so far, moved towards Ginny, Charlie, and Harry. "We support our sister," they said in unison.

"You what?!" Ginny demanded. "That was a dirty trick!"

Fred turned to George. "With that welcome, maybe we should reconsider—"

Ginny drew her wand. George shook his head. "we wouldn't live if we did, not with that temper."

"Ginny," Mr. Weasley attempted another track. "What you're doing is dangerous."

"How?" Ginny demanded. "How's loving Padma dangerous? Right now, no offense, it's a lot more dangerous to love _Harry_, which, as I have gotten clearly enough from you, no one here opposes." She looked at Harry, and he smiled back. Ginny was of course right, and he didn't know if he himself would be brave enough to do what Parvati has done.

Mr. Weasley sighed. "I thought the same way," he said. "I never told this to anyone." Mrs. Weasley stared at her husband. "My older brother," he said. "Alexander Weasley."

"But Dad, aren't you the—"

"We never told you about him. Well, Molly knows he existed, but nothing else. He was killed in mysterious circumstances—there were even suspicions that he was a Death Eater—" the family looked shocked at the very idea— "before we were married."

"And why—" Ginny began.

"Because he was..."

"Gay?" Harry supplied. Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. Mr. Weasley nodded. "That's why he was killed. So yes, it's dangerous—"

"We're not hiding from Voldemort, so I don't see any reason to hide from—"

"Ginny some of them may be on our side—"

"If they're going to go over because of this," Harry said, "we shouldn't depend on them. Let's stop playing politics with people's love lives."

Mrs. Weasley looked shocked. "Harry—"

"Molly, I'd like to meet this Padma."

"What?!" Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Bill yelled.

"I'd certainly like to meet any boy who'd try to date my daughter," Mr. Weasley said. "I don't see why it should be any different here."

"Way to go, Dad," Charlie said quietly.

"I don't like this," Mrs. Weasley said. "But I'll stay and see."

Ron and bill looked at her. "Well, I'm not," Bill said. "My wife certainly won't approve—"

"Then go back to her!" Ginny yelled.

"Ginny!"

"I'm going too," Ron said, and, throwing Harry a dirty look, as if this was all his fault, did so.

"Ginny, can—"

"There's no need, Mr. Weasley," Harry said. "She's waiting outside the door."

Harry left the office. "Where's—"

"Ginny's okay," he informed Padma. "I told you they'll want to see you. Go on."

"Good luck, sis," Parvati said. "Harry, what did you do to the snake?"

"It's in my dorm. Why?"

"I'd like to have it."

"What would you want with a dead snake?" Harry asked. He might have expected this sort of request from Luna, but not from Parvati.

"Not much. It's dead, you killed it. Why—"

"You can have it. Just don't display it for everyone to see. I don't want to remind people of—"

"I wouldn't think of it. Your dorm?"

"My dorm. Right under the bed."

Parvati gave him a tiny kiss and left.

Harry found himself alone in the corridor with Hermione's, who looked the way she usually did these days—calm, but without happiness. Harry knew why, but couldn't do anything. Ron proved among the most stubborn members of his family.

He was about to try to console her when someone bumped into him, and he tripped and fell on top of that person.

"Watch where you're going, Potter!" Zacharias Smith demanded. "You nearly killed me—"

Harry didn't listen. On a long chain hung around Smith's neck was a tiny golden cup—a miniature replica of Helga Hufflepuff's cup Harry saw in the memory Dumbledore showed him.

"Sorry. Where did you get this?" he asked hopefully.

"None of your business, Potter. Let—"

Something clicked in Harry's mind. "Are you related to Hepzibah Smith?" he asked.

Zacharias looked shocked. "My great-great-great Aunt. Why?"  
"Hermione, come on," he said.

"What're—"

"Not here." He opened an empty classroom. Hermione entered first, Harry nearly pushed Smith in and closed the door.

"Potter, what's wrong—"

"A real cup, like the one on your medallion, exists."

"How do you know that? It's a family—"

"Hepzibah Smith had no wish to give it to your branch of the family, is that correct?"

"How—"

"Later. Yes or no?"

"Yes. But it didn't matter, since the cup wasn't found among her possessions after she died. Only this medallion. How do you know—"

Harry ignored the question. "The official story is that Hepzibah was poisoned by her house-elf by accident—the elf was, after all, very old. Few knew about the cup, and another unique artifact she owned and those that did—your ancestors—didn't want to spread the word. No one knows what happened to the cup."

"You said 'the official story'. Are you implying that that's not what happened?"

"I'm not implying. I'm stating that as fact. Two days before her death, Hepzibah Smith was visited by a young man named Tom Riddle and showed him her treasures, including the cup. Her house -elf witnessed the encounter, and, years later, provided a memory of it to Dumbledore."

"Why would Dumbledore bother with an old house-elf—"

"Because," Harry said, "Tom Riddle is better known to the world by another name."

"Voldemort," Hermione explained.

"And why should I believe you? I only have your word—"

"Listen. It's imperative for the defeat of Voldemort that we locate the cup. The real cup."

Smith paused. "I only have this replica. How would I know where You-Know-Who hid—"

"There replica must have been made for a purpose," Hermione reasoned. "It may—"

"All right," Smith said reluctantly. "It has a tracking charm on it, supposedly set to the cup. Many of my family tried to use the charm to recover it."

"And?" Harry asked.

"They all left and didn't come back," Smith said.

"Hermione?" Harry said. "You—"

"I'm going with you."

"It's _my_ family relic. I'm coming, too."

Harry shrugged. "Hermione, find Neville, and head to the Three Broomsticks." He left the classroom and headed downstairs.

"Wait, when I said I'll be going, I didn't—"

"I'm not going to wait. You're coming now, or you're not coming at all."

Smith followed. Neville and Hermione met them at the pub. "What's going on?" Neville said, sleepily.

"Neville, I'm leaving you in charge of the D.A., and responsible for the school defense if anything happens."

"What?" Neville asked in surprise.

"Trust me. You're the best choice—"

Neville shook his head. "If—"

"If everything was fine between me and Ron, I'd take him along, as still leave you in charge. Take this to McGonagall." He handed Neville a note. "Good luck, Neville. Everything will be fine."

He turned to Smith. "Ready?"

The Hufflepuff nodded, took out the medallion, and cast a spell on it. "Okay..."

"Did you ever side-along Apparate anyone?" Hermione asked.

"No. Is it so different from Apparating alone?" Smith replied, and, letting Harry and Hermione hold on to him, cast the spell.


	8. VIII

The next thing Harry felt was a painful bump, as if he hit a wall.

"OW!" Hermione yelled. "My arm!"

Hermione's arm was bent at an unnatural angle and hung loose. She looked like she was barely able to stand.

Harry supported her. "I'm no Madam Pomfrey," he said quietly, "but Lupin taught me to do this." And with a snap, he straightened Hermione's arm and mended the bones. "_Narcosio_," he said.

"Thanks, Harry." She closed her hand slowly, several times. "Why—"

"It's still sore and recovering. Hold your wand in the other hand and let this arm hang at your side. It'll be fine in a couple of hours."

Hermione nodded. Harry turned to Smith in anger. "That was some Apparition. If—"

"It's not my fault!" Smith said. Harry got even angrier, but Hermione restrained him. "He's right, Harry."

"What?"

"Smith did just fine. We've hit an anti-Apparition ward, like the ones around Hogwarts."

"So what now?"

"Well, we'll have to walk."

"Where?"

"Don't worry, Harry. I know this place. And if you told us where you intended to take us, I would have warned you about the wards," she told Smith.

"Oh really? Where are we, then?"  
"Four miles north of Stonehenge," Hermione answered. "Let's go."

By the time they reached the enormous stone structure, dawn has begun. They walked around stone slabs, but saw nothing that could conceal an entrance. Harry finally shook his head.

"Hermione, you've taken ancient runes. Can—"

"I'm trying to, Harry," she said in frustration. "But it's somewhat different from what we've learned. The language is related, but not the same. Celtic, obviously, but—"

"Maybe I can help," Smith replied. "I know a few things about ancient Celtic wizards."

"How?" Hermione turned to him.

"I'm descended from them."

"Then you wouldn't mind telling me what this rune means?" Hermione asked.

Smith looked at her. "It means 'virgin'," he said.

"Oh, great. They sacrificed people—"

"I doubt that's what we need."

"Why?"

"Voldemort wouldn't put Dark magic on the outside of the place—it'd be obvious. He'd use existing features of Stonehenge—although I don't know why he'd use it. It must have been important for him, somehow."

They continued reading inscriptions on stones (almost every block had one) for the rest of the day. Most had to do with ancient rituals, and finding the precise times at which to perform them using the locations of the stars relative to the stones. Some neither Hermione nor Smith could read. After a few frustrating hours, Hermione sat down with a sigh.

"If anything here gives us a clue, we can't understand it."

"So what should we do? Give up?" Harry asked.

"You two dragged me here—"

"Your tracking charm—" Harry began and screamed something unintelligible.

"Harry?" Hermione asked with worry.

"The tracking charm! How could we forget! We should be able to get a read this close."

Smith looked skeptical, but took out the medallion. "This way," he said, heading east. About a quarter of a mile away from the main structure of Stonehenge, they came upon a stone pillar about ten feet high, covered in runes.

Hermione looked at it for a few seconds. Then she turned to Smith.

"Please don't tell me it means what I think it means."

"There is an entrance here. And yes, you've got to shine moonlight into the top symbol." He pointed at the large rune engraved at the very top of the pillar.

"But it will be months before the moon is even close to where we need it! That is, if this was set to open every year. Otherwise, it may be years. Decades. Centuries. Mi—"

"Hermione, we found what we were looking for. Now that we know this, and we know how far away we can Apparate, let's go to Diagon Alley. It's full moon tonight, so we can try our luck.

"Luck, Harry, I've told you, it won't—"

"Let's get here tonight. We all need food, rest, and sleep."

Hermione and Smith nodded and followed. As soon as Harry made sure he was out of the wards' reach, he Apparated to Diagon Alley.

Tom, the barkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron, recognized him and was about to announce it when Harry put his finger to his lips, ordered three rooms for the night, and that dinner be brought to them, and having paid, headed upstairs with his companions. He shook his head.

"Be careful," he said. "Tom will keep quiet, but someone else will probably recognize me. Fortunately, we won't stay long, so get as much rest as you can." Harry headed to his room, and, without undressing, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

He woke up when Hermione shook his shoulder. Quickly reacting, he drew his wand and aimed it at her before realizing what was going on. "Sorry, Hermione."

"It's okay," she replied. "We have a visitor."

Harry turned. Smith sat in a chair in the far corner of the room, looking intently at the other person.

It was Theodore Nott.

"What're you doing here?"  
"Well, you vanished last night, and—"

"I had important things to do. The castle could be attacked, you should—"

"Take a look at this." Hermione handed him the _Daily Prophet_.

_POTTER: THE CHOSEN ONE OR THE NEXT DARK LORD? _read the headline.

"They found out what you did to Nagini," Hermione explained.

"This quick—"

"Zabini," Nott said. "That's what he talked about yesterday. How the Ministry is really unhappy with you—"

"I'm unhappy with them," Harry interrupted.

"I know. Zabini told everyone that 'at least the Ministry is run by real wizards who know Potter is a bunch of hot air'. You should have seen the Slytherin common room last night. It would have made the previous argument look like harmony."

"Thanks," Harry said.

"No problem. I should get back. If Zabini or Parkinson find out where I've gone, there'll be even more hell to pay. And I haven't told Daphne I'd be going here, so she'll be worried too. Good luck in... whatever you're doing." Nott Disapparated.

"So what was that for?" Smith said. "Just—"

"So Zabini's informing the Ministry. Can't say I'm surprised," Harry said.

"What's with you and the Ministry?" Smith demanded. "I know they—"

"They'd rather look like they're fighting Voldemort than actually do so," Harry said. He opened the door and immediately jumped back into the room.

"What happened, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Wait here," he said, and wrapped himself up in his invisibility cloak. Smith gasped, but Harry quietly crawled outside and headed downstairs.

"Yes, Potter is still here," he heard a voice whispering below. It wasn't one that caused him to panic seconds before. Maybe he was hallucinating...

"Who's with him? Weasley?"

"No Weasley. Granger and someone else."

"Which room?"

"I don't know, the bartender—"

"We'll handle him," a very familiar voice said. Harry now knew he wasn't hallucinating, but he still rushed down for confirmation. He got it. Dolores Umbridge and Dawlish, the Auror, were sitting at a table with someone covered by a black veil. The veiled figure, he remembered, was there when they came in this morning.

Had Harry been alone,he would have waited and listened to the conversation. Now, he quickly got back upstairs, and told Hermione what happened. "We've got to go now," he said.

"Why would the Ministry—"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I didn't do anything illegal, so while the _Prophet_ can write anything they want, they have no reason to go after me. But they followed—or tried to follow—Dumbledore last year. He evaded them, and he had good reasons to. We have the same reasons."

"Alright, Harry, but the moon—"

"Don't worry, Hermione. Got everything? Then let's go."

All three Disapparated and appeared at Hogsmeade.

"Let's go, quickly!" And they vanished before anyone could see them.

The last traces of the dusk were gone, and Stonehenge was covered in darkness. Only with another use of the tracking charm did they find the rock.

"I told you, Harry," Hermione said, pointing at the rising moon. "It won't—"

"She's right, Potter," Smith said. "There's no way that moon will light it up tonight."

Harry pulled out a hand mirror. "Maybe this'll help," he suggested. A few moments later, he caught the moonlight and aimed at the top rune.

A loud roar came form below, and the pillar began to rise out of the ground. It rose until it hovered three feet in the air, revealing an opening of a dark tunnel.

"_Lumos_," Harry said. "Let's go."

The three wizards entered, an the pillar lowered itself back, closing the tunnel behind them.

XXX

Harry, ignoring the gasps Smith and Hermione made when the way back shut, headed down a straight, narrow descending tunnel. The cave with the locket—with the copy of the locket—had been natural, but this place was clearly artificial.

"Who made this tunnel?" Hermione wondered. "There's no stone, but it must be very old... maybe as old as Stonehenge itself."

The tunnel ended, at Harry's wand light revealed a cavern whose top and far walls were lost in darkness. Something glittered at an indeterminable distance.

"Hold on," Harry told Smith, who was about to run towards the glitter. He lowered his wand and lit up the floor. "As I thought," he said, pointing at the deep chasm in front of them.

"As you thought?" Hermione asked him as she moved around the edge of the chasm, looking for a way to cross it.

"Voldemort likes this kind of setup. A circular obstacle, and something in the center. It's just a guess, but I think we're right under Stonehenge right now."

"Harry!" Hermione yelled out. "A bridge!"

Harry approached her, standing next to a wrought iron bridge. "Will it hold all of us?" Hermione asked.

"I think so, but let's try first." Harry conjured up a rope and tied it around Hermione's waist. He then handed the end to Smith. "Hold on."

Hermione walked across the bridge. Harry expected it to fall at any moment, but soon, they heard her voice. "I've made it!" she yelled.

Harry tied the rope around Smith, conjured up another, and did the same. "Hold the rope, Hermione," he shouted. "Go!"

Smith crossed and reported back. "All right. Now hold the rope I held on to!" He tied the rope about himself, but he didn't need it either. The bridge held.

Harry brought his wand up to the glitter and saw the golden cup with a figure of a badger.

"We have it!" he said.

Smith approached and took the cup. Or rather, he tried to take it, since over half the cup was struck in the rock.

"What the he—"

His voice was lost in the loud roar, a burst of hot air, and a flash of red light from below. The cave was coming alive.


	9. IX

A rock nearly hit Harry from above. He turned and saw several giant humanoid figures, ade fo black stone, without features. The figures stood on ledges and hurled rocks at them. Hermione and Smith threw shield charms and winced when the stones impacted.

As for the light, that came from the lava that Harry saw rising from the chasm below. The iron bridge vanished. They were on a small stone island, unable to escape, and besieged by stone giants.

"_Aguamenti!_" Harry threw a stream of water at one rock figure. But the water didn't reach it. Hermione and Smith tried the same, but they had even less success.

Harry threw one of the ropes they had used to secure themselves across the chasm. The sealing charm attached it on the other side, but as soon as Harry attempted to attach it on their side and use it, a large fountain of lava burst up. Some of it hit the rope and burned through it. Harry looked desperately at the piece left in his hands. The lava kept rising.

Harry got hit in the back with a rock and fell. He turned and saw that both Smith and Hermione looked as desperate as he was. Spells burst from their wands almost continually. An inhuman effort allowed Harry to get up and join them, blasting a particularly large rock hurled at them into pieces.

Lava reached the edge of the chasm and poured over the island. The three wizards climbed onto the central pillar. Smith's robes got partially burned, and Harry had to put the fire out with his wand. They huddled together and put up a combined shield, since they were now a very attractive target for the stone giants.

But Harry knew that this was only a delay. There was nothing they could do against the rising lava.

Harry looked at Hufflepuff's cup at his feet. Even if it was destroyed in the lava flow—something Harry seriously doubted—that left a mysterious Horcrux and Voldemort himself to deal with—and Ron would be the only one who knew the whole story.

"I can't stand!" Smith yelled. He desperately clung to the ever-shrinking rock pillar, supported by Hermione.

"Get on top of me," Harry said.

"Wha—"

"Do it!" Harry shouted. "Hermione, get on top of him, and do as much as you can to keep those rocks away from us!"  
Smith and Hermione complied. "What's the point?" Smith grumbled.

"Shut up," Harry said, straining under the weight as he climbed to the very top of the pillar.

The rise of the lava didn't stop. There was no more room for anything on the pillar except the cup and Harry's feet. Harry felt every rock that hit Hermione's shield. Several times, he nearly lost his balance. The heat was burning his face.

"_Aguamenti!_" a new voice shouted from above. This was followed by a hiss of steam, and a loud crack. Harry couldn't look up, but suddenly, the weight on his shoulders got lighter.

Moments later, he felt Smith yanked up, and let go. The lava nearly reached his toes.

"Gotcha!" Parvati's voice said, and harry felt a familiar warm hand pull him onto a broomstick and saw Parvati lift him. Around him, four other broomstick hovers. Ron with Hermione, Ginny with Smith, and Padma, alone and hovering higher than the Gryffindors. She threw a stream of water at t he last rock giant and cracked him.

"Let's go," Ron said.

"One moment." Harry remembered. "_Accio! Aguamenti!_"

The lava let the golden cup loose from its rock bed and the Horcrux emerged from the red lake, right towards Harry. He was right to take the precaution to cool it—it was hot even so. And then the four broomsticks headed up through a hole, and emerged inside the Stonehenge ring. Harry breathed freely. Through sheer luck, no one was harmed.

XXX

By the time they landed and rested enough to Apparate, dawn was coming. The group happily walked into Hogwarts and found Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Professor McGonagall waiting form them.

"You're alive!" Neville said.

"How did it go?" Luna asked.

"Potter, Smith, Weasley, Weasley, Patil, Patil, and Granger." McGonagall frowned at them. "Detention for curfew violation."

"Professor, we found another You-Know-What," Harry ignored the punishment, while Ron exclaimed, "What?!"

McGonagall frowned even harder. "Let's see it."

Harry handed her the cup. "Hey!" Smith protested. "That's a family—"

"Potter, come with me," McGonagall said. Harry followed. When they were out of everyone's earshots, McGonagall looked at him and said sternly, "I don't know what you're playing at, but this cup is not and never has been a Horcrux."

Harry was too shocked to even think clearly. "But the tracking charm..."

"What charm?"

"The tracking charm from Smith's medallion. That's how we reached this."

"I'll have Professor Flitwick inspect this and the medallion. But we're probably dealing with a forgery—a very skilled forgery."

"Voldemort," Harry said. Then he descended to the ground. "What do I tell them?"

"My advice? The truth. And tell Mr. Smith that Professor Flitwick could use his help with this, seeing as the real thing did belong to his family."

Harry was in a dark mood when he returned to the rest of the group, and this had almost nothing to do with how tired he was.

"Potter, where—" Smith demanded.

"Professor Flitwick will take a look at it. McGonagall said you should help him. It was a fake, the real cup is still hidden." Smith looked at him for a long time, but said nothing and left.

Harry looked at the rest of the group. They all appeared subdued, except for Parvati. His girlfriend looked really angry... and it looked like she was angry at him.

"What were you thinking?!" she shouted. "I thought we agreed—you wouldn't go off alone!"

"I wasn't alone, I—"

"We agreed you wouldn't keep me out of the loop. You broke that promise, Harry."

"I—"

"You. Broke. Your. Promise," she said. "You don't trust me. Why should I trust you?" She turned and walked away.

"I do trust you!" Harry yelled in desperation.

"Words," Parvati retorted without looking back.

Harry called after her. "Parvati!"

"Leave me alone, Harry! I'm not interested in empty excuses or apologies!"

"Par—"

"I said leave me!" Parvati turned and, before Harry realized what was happening, hit him with a very painful spell that sent him reeling, and caused several flapping bat-wings to emerge on his body.

"Uh-oh," he heard Ginny's voice as she rushed to help him. "Sorry, Harry. I taught Padma the Bat-Boogey hex and she must have..." She gave her girlfriend a glare as she cast the countercurse on Harry.

"I better see her," Padma said. "Gin—"

"I'll come with you," she replied. She threw Harry an apologetic look and left. Harry was left with Ron and Hermione.

"Just my luck," Harry muttered. "Cho gets jealous for no reason and cries all the time, Ginny turns out to be a lesbian, and Par—"

"Well, Harry—" Hermione began.

"Don't tell me she's right. I know that! But I can't turn back time! Not now, anyway. If—"

"So tell her that," Hermione said.

"At this point, I'd tell her anything. It's just doubtful she'll believe me."

Hermione couldn't find a reply to that. "Ron," she said. "Wh—"

Ron cut her off. "You want to know what I think about Ginny and Padma now."

Hermione nodded. "And one other thing."

"What?"

"How did you know where to go?"

"Well, it's thanks to Harry," he said.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Neville told me you left and put him in charge of defending the school. Look, I missed you guys. I thought it'd help if I went into danger with you..."

"We know you're brave, Ron," Hermione said, blushing.

"I then remembered something. House-elves always know where their master is. They are tied to him or her by an unbreakable charm that ends only upon the death of one or the other.

"What?" Harry demanded, shocked by the information. "Kreacher knows where I am all the time? But he can—"

"He can't," Hermione said. "I've researched this. It's part of a house-elf's enslavement," she said disgustingly. "They are forbidden to reveal the location of their master."

"With one exception, Hermione, like everything else that comes to house-elves."

Harry realized what that meant. "If their master orders them."

Ron nodded. "Remember when you told Kreacher to answer any questions from me and Hermione as if they came from you?"

"You mean—"

"I couldn't summon Kreacher, but I went to the kitchens and found Dobby. He was glad to help. So I found you were at Stonehenge."

"And?"

"And I was ready to leave when Parvati ran out into the courtyard and demanded to know where I was going. I told her I thought you were in danger, and she just exploded. 'Harry's in danger, and you didn't see fit to tell me, his girlfriend?! I'm coming along, and if you move so much as an inch within the next five minutes, you'll pay for it, Weasley!' And she returned, bringing Padma and Ginny along. I couldn't even protest. They just drew their wands and threatened to hex me into oblivion." By this time, Hermione was laughing, and Harry was struggling not to.

"I don't understand," Hermione said once she got all the laughs out of her system. "After _that_, Parvati breaks up with you?"

Harry shrugged. Ron said nothing at first. "Try to talk to her, Harry."

"Oh, you're the one to give advice at—" Hermione said sarcastically.

Ron glared at Hermione, and they began an argument. As usual in these circumstances, Harry ignored them. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Black unicorn," Harry gave the password. The common room was almost empty—it was still early Saturday morning. The only person there was Parvati, who was sitting on the couch.

Harry moved towards her, but her reaction was unexpected. Parvati leaped up and shouted, "Dean, wait!"

"What?" Dean's head appeared from the door of the boys' dormitory.

"I changed my mind. I'll go with you next Hogsmeade weekend." She smiled at him and walked past the trio.

Harry, breathing heavily, sat down at the spot Parvati just vacated and looked at Ron and Hermione, who could do nothing but look at him with pity.


	10. X

Harry's next few weeks were split between feeling miserable, being cheered up, without success, by Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Professor Lupin, and spending long periods pouring over the strange fake cup they 'd recovered with Smith and Professor Flitwick. Smith was very eager to recover the real cup, and Harry, to make sure he stayed eager, didn't tell him what he intended to do with it.

The morning of the next Hogsmeade visit, Harry was shaken awake by a worried Ron. Since what they called "the Stonehenge trip", the three of them usually spent their time together, but Harry felt they approached a breakthrough on their work on the tracking charm with Professor Flitwick. Even if Smith and Flitwick decided to head off, Harry wouldn't join them. He didn't think he'd have much fun in Hogsmeade after... This meant that Ron and Hermione would go there in each other's company.

"Harry! Harry!" Ron shouted.

"Huh? What?" Harry sat up.

"Help me!"

"How? Ron,"—he frowned— "do you know what time it is?"

"I know. I can't sleep."

"All right," Harry said, getting up. "What?"

"I want to ask Hermione out."

Harry laughed. "Finally."

"How? It's already—"

"You're right. If you ask her out on a date to Hogsmeade, she'll get mad."

"Why?"

"Do the words 'Yule Ball' and 'last resort' ring any bells?"

"So what—"

"Don't ask her on a date now. Go as friends, the way you usually do, and ask her to be your girlfriend in the course of the day."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. She fancies you."

Harry, knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, dressed up and headed downstairs to get breakfast.

"I know what I saw, Dean!" Parvati yelled.

"Yeah, whatever." Dean looked frustrated. Harry blushed and turned away. He finished breakfast as quickly as possible, and then headed to Flitwick's office to work on the tracking charm.

He didn't get far—thoughts of Ron and Hermione, and—useless, but he couldn't help it—thoughts of Parvati—kept entering his head. Harry was unpleasantly reminded of last year, when the same thoughts about Dean and Ginny occupied him.

In the early afternoon, Professor Flitwick walked in. "Any progress?" he asked.

Harry showed him. "Voldemort's tracking charm completely obscures the real one, and we can't risk destroying the fake cup, since that might take out both leads." He remembered something Hermione said last year, when they learned tracking charms. "They vary in strength periodically, don't they?"

Flitwick nodded. "The charm is usually strongest on the day it was cast. When would this be?"

"I don't know. But Mr. Smith might."

Harry left to look for Smith, and found him in the library, reading an old volume called _The Hufflepuff Family Line: Facts, Guesses, and Mysteries_. He wasn't pleased when Harry interrupted him.

"What do you want, Potter? You and Flitwick know more about tracking charms than I do, so I don't see what you really need me for. Or should I say _Granger_ and Flitwick?"

"Shut up," Harry said. "Do you have any idea when the charm might have been cast?"

"The real one—or the fake one?"

"The real," Harry replied.

"What do you mean, when? A thousand—"

"No. The _day_."

To Harry's surprise, Smith didn't hesitate. "Christmas," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"If I know anything about Helga Hufflepuff and her descendants, yes. Christmas was always special to them... to us. More than any other day. Still is."

"Very well. Since tracking charms are strongest on the day they were cast, we'll attempt to get through the fake spell this Christmas. We'll meet us at Madam Rosmerta's at nine in the evening."

"Christmas eve?"

Harry nodded.

Smith shrugged and agreed. "There's just one problem, Potter. What if You-Know-Who cast his spell on the same day?"

"Doubtful."

"Why?"

"The real cup used to be where we found the fake. The charm is relatively recent—Flitwick is absolutely certain of that. That means Voldemort was in a hurry to hide it. So I don't think he could wait. And if doesn't work, we'll have to try something else. But I think this is our best chance."

"I'll be there, Potter," Smith growled and turned his face back into the book. Harry returned to the common room. He wanted to tell Ron and Hermione about his plan, but, as they might be in a dating mood by now, he had no intention of going into Hogsmeade to seek them out.

As soon as the Fat Lady opened the door, Harry heard sobs. He was shocked to see that it was Parvati, crouched alone on the couch.

"Parvati?" Harry whispered. "Are you okay?"

"No," she answered.

"Can I help?"

"No. No one can. Especially not you."

Harry didn't react to the rudeness, instead sitting down next to her. "Parvati—"

"You're asking me to trust you. How can—"

"Parvati," he said suddenly, "do you remember that night? When I walked in on Ginny and Padma?"  
Parvati cried even harder. "I saw... no. You—"

"I what? What you told me that night... meant a lot to me. You have no idea how much."

"And we had a conversation about Divination."

"Huh?"

"You think it's rubbish." Parvati looked at him. "Please don't lie, Harry." She then paused. "Dean thinks it's rubbish, too."

Harry suppressed the jealousy. "I think _Trelawney's classes_ were rubbish," he said. "But I know there are such things as Seers, prophecies, and correct predictions."

Parvati paused. "Why am I even talking to you about..."

"Parvati. Ginny and I talked the next day after our... encounter."

"I didn't know that," Parvati said. "What—"

Harry debated whether to tell her about a "special girl", but decided this wasn't the time. "She asked me whether we were still friends, now that any possibilities of a romantic relationship were over."

"And?"

"And I'm now asking you the same thing, Parvati. I want your friendship. And whether or not you believe me, I made a mistake in not telling you that I was leaving. A mistake I regret—"

Parvati shook her head. "I didn't tell you one thing. The things I see in the crystal ball... I don't know what they mean... but when it's specific enough... they always happen. _Always_."

"You saw something."

"Myself... or maybe Padma... It wasn't clear. I... she... was _falling_."

Harry sat in silence.

"Dean laughed it off. So—"

Harry didn't want to talk about it. "I never saw anything in the ball myself, but I believe you. But there's little we can do about it, right? Unless you and Padma are planning to avoid all the places you can fall from. That's a pretty limited world, you know."

This time, Parvati smiled. "Harry..."

"You didn't answer my question. Are we still friends?"

"What do you think?"

"From this conversation, I'm cautiously optimistic."

"It's sort of hard to be friends with an ex-boyfriend. You aren't friends with Cho Chang, are you?"  
Harry wasn't taken. "I never tried, and I didn't want to. I didn't really know Cho."

"And you think you know me? Do you, Harry?"

"Uhm..."

"You don't think I'm 'too direct, too stubborn, and unwilling to listen to reason'?"

"What?"

"Dean's words on his breaking up with me. Right in Madam Puddyfoot's, in front of half the school."

"What?" Harry couldn't believe it.

"I just don't think 'listening to reason' means listening to how the crystal ball is useless and how stupid you are."

"He's right about stubborn and direct parts, though. I just consider those compliments."

Parvati sighed. "We never really did much together. I just followed my usual method of getting over the pain of a previous breakup. It didn't work this time. And neither did..."

"Breaking things in the Room of Requirement?" Harry asked.

"You remembered!"

"I remember a lot of things. And what do you plan to do to get over the pain of _this_ breakup?"

Parvati looked at him. "I don't need to. There is no pain." She took in a skeptical look from him. "Harry..."

Almost instinctively, they moved closer to each other. Harry put his arm around Parvati and leaned in. She didn't resist.

"No," Harry said. "I won't do this."

"What? Why not?"  
"Parvati, I trust you. With my life. I trust you to go into danger alongside me. I meant it when I said I had made a mistake."

"So why—"

"Because after what you did, I'm not sure I can trust you as a girlfriend. As a friend, yes. But do you expect us to always agree? We won't. Ad if you run off to Dean or someone every time something passes between us—"

"How dare you?!" Parvati shouted and drew her wand.

Harry didn't back off. "What else does it look like? If you intended to make me jealous, you did that and more. But how can I trust you as a girlfriend after that?"

Parvati didn't reply for a while. "Does that mean it's over?" she finally said. "No chance at all?"  
"I didn't say that," Harry replied. "I'd just like to get to know you better. As a _friend_. If, of course, we are friends. You still didn't answer my question."

Parvati laughed. "And you think _I'm _stubborn? I guess we are. Are you sure?"

"I am. And you know I'm right. If I'm ever ready to trust you as a girlfriend, you'll be the first to know."

"It may be too late," Parvati threatened.

"I'll take that risk," Harry replied.

Ron entered the common room, looking grim. "Oh. Did you two make up?" he asked, annoyed.

Parvati shrugged. "Yes and no," she said.

"What happened?" Harry asked

"Harry, can I talk to you alone?" he asked.

Parvati shrugged and headed upstairs. "Well?" Harry asked.

"Well, what? She fancies me! I know! She just can't believe you do too! You have a lot to answer for!" Ron yelled.

"You asked Hermione to be your girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"And her exact response was, 'I need time to think.'"

"She said _that_?"

Ron nodded. "And then we had a huge argument—"

"She wouldn't have said that. She—"

"She did," Ron said.

"I'm going to talk to her." Harry headed for the door.

"Harry, you can't—" But Harry was already rushing downstairs. He ran into Hermione on the fifth floor.

"Hermione!" he shouted.

"Well, I guess Ron told the story," she said.

"Hermione, did you really say you needed time to think? After Ron asked you be his girlfriend?"  
"Yes! What's wrong with that? Considering this is _Ron_ we're talking about, considering how he reacted to Ginny and Padma, doesn't it make sense—"

"No! No, it doesn't! You admitted you love him! What—"

"I do! It's—"

"Then you're crazy, Hermione. No, strike that. You're both crazy! You'll never get together the way both of you like it. So just forget it and do it. Give the Gryffindor tower a new topic for gossip. We're all bored with your antics and I'm tired of seeing my best friends dance around like that when they clearly fancy each other and everyone knows it!" When Hermione attempted to interrupt, Harry looked at her. "And you know something else?"  
"What? I can't just—"

"By the time you decide, it may be too late."

XXX

For the next month Ron and Hermione remained polite but cool to each other. Harry's attempts to persuade Hermione to change her mind came to nothing, since Hermione found what the situation between him and Parvati was and retorted every attempt with "Practice what you preach." There was a bonus to this. Harry decided he no longer needed to prod his two friends to admit their feelings. This allowed him to spend more time with Parvati.

Christmas Eve came, Harry felt, too soon. He ate his dinner quickly, and telling Ron and Hermione he'd meet them at the Three Broomsticks, left the Great Hall. Despite not knowing where he'd have to go, he planned extensively for this day, as best he could. He soon came out of his dorm, loaded with equipment.

"Hey, Ginny," he said. "Do you know where Parvati is?"

"Upstairs. I'll get her," she said and headed to the girls' dormitories, appearing a few moments later with Parvati in tow.

"Quidditch practice?" Parvati asked sarcastically, looking over Harry with his Firebolt.

Harry shook his head. "I don't like this, Parvati, but I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. I'm going on a dangerous mission—"

"I'm coming," Parvati said without hesitation. "Do I need anything?"

"A broomstick and warm clothes," Harry said. "Ginny—"

"We're coming too. I'll get Padma," she said. "Where do we meet?"  
"Madam Rosmerta's, in,"—Harry looked at his watch— "fifteen minutes."

"I'll be there," Parvati said and almost ran upstairs.

She was as good as her word, Harry noted. Madam Rosmerta must have had the busiest Christmas in a long time, as students—all members of the D.A.—gathered and talked.

"Several of you know why we're here," he said. "For those that don't, I want you take a careful look at this." He held up the fake Hufflepuff cup.

"A badger?" Theodore Nott said with interest. "This can't—"

"Helga Hufflepuff's," Harry continued. "Smith here's related."

Smith looked at him but said nothing. The Hufflepuff wasn't actually Helga's descendant. His great-grandfather was a child of Hepzibah Smith's husband by another woman. Smith didn't want this advertised, however, and Harry respected his wish.

"Unfortunately," Harry said, "this is fake. It's a very good copy—but only that. Our objective is to recover the real one, which was hidden and protected by Voldemort."

"Where?" Padma asked.

"That's what we'll try to find out now." He placed the cup on the table.

Smith took out his medallion and showed it to everyone. "We'll try to catch the real tracking charm, which should be most powerful tonight, among the noise of the fake."

He case the spell and waited. Several seconds passed, during which everyone stayed quite, even though the "noise" Smith mentioned was metaphorical.

Smith paused. "Nothing," he said. "The fake is too powerful."

"Maybe we should move it farther off?" Nott suggested.

"That's not how tracking charms work," Hermione retorted. "I think our only real chance is to destroy the cup."

"But that could—" Smith tried.

"I know, but Hermione's right," Harry said. "Stand back!"

"Why?" Greengrass asked.

"Voldemort made this thing. He likes nasty surprises." As soon as he said this, the company scrambled.

"_Reducto_," Harry said.

The cup cracked and its pieces flew apart. This was followed by a flash brighter than the sun and a ban that deafened everyone.

When their vision cleared, a fire was roaring in the pub, eating away at a table that used to be behind Harry. He ducked out of the way of the lightning blast.

"_Aguamenti!_" Hermione put out the fire.

Madam Rosmerta looked furious and ready to throw them all out. Harry quickly prevented this by dumping a handful of Galleons into her pocket.

"Harry!" Parvati yelled.

"I'm all right," he said. "I managed to dodge it."

"Smith, try this now. And if you can just tell us the distance and location, rather than trying to Apparate everyone—"

Smith shrugged and, taking out his medallion, cast the spell again. A few seconds later, he breathed with relief. "There," he said, pointing southeast. "Six hundred and fifty miles."

Hermione pulled out a map. "Well, well," she said after inspecting it for a while.

"Where?"

"The Black Forest in Germany," she said.

They processed this information. "We'd better go," Harry said.

"How?" Ron asked. "It's too far to Apparate, and none of us know how to make Portkeys, do they?" He looked at Hermione.

"No," she said. "That's very advanced magic."

"True," Harry said. "And I don't know how to make Portkeys either. But I asked your mum for help, and she sent someone who does."

Two people stepped out from behind the bar stand. "Wotcher, Harry," Tonks said.

"Hello, Potter," Kingsley Shacklebot greeted him. "Impressive introduction."

"Thanks."

"Here we go." Kingsley handed him a frying pan. We have ten minutes. And these,"—he held up four cups— "are emergency return Portkeys."

Harry took them and handed one each to Ginny, Hermione, and Neville. Keeping the fourth, he stepped outside. "Nott and Greengrass will be our reserve. Inform McGonagall and then do as she says. The—"

"Wait a minute, Potter! We didn't come—"

"If we all leave, no one will know where, and won't be able to send assistance if we need it. If McGonagall sends anyone or goes herself, go with her."

Nott and Greengrass frowned, but didn't insist of coming along. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Smith, Neville, Luna, Padma, Ginny, Tonks, Kingsley, and Parvati touched the frying pan.

"I would ask Professor Lupin to come with us, but—" He pointed at the full moon outside the window.

No one replied as they were swept up in the flight of the Portkey. The landing came seconds later, and was awkward, as Portkey landings usually were. Harry was the first to leap up, and nearly met a green bolt that flew out of the trees. He dodged, and the bolt lit a fire behind him.

"Hello, Potter. Long time no see," the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange rang out.


	11. XI

"_Stupefy!_" Harry shouted. The spell glanced off Bellatrix's shield, and she cruelly laughed.

"Child's toys, Potter. _Crucio!_"

Bellatrix missed. "Neville, don't!" Harry shouted, seeing as Neville was ready to charge into the forest.

"What do we do?" Ron asked.

"What do we do?" Bellatrix mocked.

Harry sent another stunner, without success. "Follow me! Avenge my cousin, Potter."

It took all the will Harry possessed not to do as she said.

"What're we waiting for?" Smith asked.

"Parvati, Ginny, Ron, and myself will take to the air and try to get her."

"I'm a Quidditch player too, in case you forgot," Smith said.

"Fine. The rest of you, follow her on the ground."

"Follow her? I thought we were after the cup?" Padma asked.

"I have no intention of getting killed from behind while looking, and you probably don't either."

"One more thing," Kingsley Shacklebot suddenly interrupted. He lifted up a Nimbus 2000. "I'm going with you."

Tonks approached. "Harry, I hope you don't mind, but to further confuse them..." She transformed into a copy of himself.

"Tonks, this is dangerous. You don't—"

"It's the best way, Harry," Hermione said. "We don't have time—"

Harry nodded, and six broomsticks took to the sky.

"_Sonorus!_" Harry said, and then, at the top of his lungs, shouted, "_BELLATRIX!_"

The reply was another killing curse, which missed. All the broomstick riders sent stunners to the point where it came from, but they got no result except lighting up the landscape for a moment.

Harry spotted a flicker of fire in the distance, and pointed there. His companions understood and followed him towards it.

The fire was in the center of a small clearing. Harry spotted only one person next to it and was about to stun him when he tumbled.

"_Protego!_" he yelled instinctively. This had no effect. Looking around, he saw that the others were in the same position, as if invisible strings were pulling them towards the fire. Harry felt the pull, but, thanks to the better broomstick, descended slower than the rest.

"_Sectumsempra!_" he said, aiming at the location where the string, if it was visible, would be. The pull stopped.

Fearing he would be seen and caught again, Harry dived into the forest. He landed, put on the invisibility cloak, and headed for the fire on foot.

By the time he reached the clearing, another person got there. Bellatrix was warming herself at the fire, while Snape stood silently a foot away, next to a large rock. Five forms of Parvati, Ron, Ginny, Smith, and Kingsley were stuck to the ground next to him.

"See where taking orders from a child gets you, Shacklebot?" Bellatrix asked. "You could have—"

"Bellatrix!" a new voice yelled from the forest. "I've caught Potter!"

Harry recognized Theodore Nott's father. Nott Sr. was leading Tonks, transformed into himself. Her—his—hands were bound.

Snape flicked his wand, and Tonks was thrown ten feet and tied to a tree. She looked at him with hatred. Harry had to grant that Tonks was a good actress. _I hope she's also a good Occlumens_, Harry thought.

"How do you like my air traps, Potter?" Snape asked, pointing at the other prisoners. "I only regret you decided not to utilize your, frankly, overestimated Quidditch abilities, and not taste them yourself."

Four more Death Eaters appeared. All carried stunned bodies: Rookwood Padma's, Goyle Sr. Neville's, Crabbe Luna's and Avery Hermione's.

"Here they are, Bellatrix," Avery reported.

Bellatrix nodded. She and Snape quickly bound the stunned teenagers to trees.

Harry realized it was time to act. He pulled out two items from Fred and George's shop. The first was a multi-stunner. Harry put it at the end of his wand. Now, if he cast a stunning spell, the bolts would fly out in five different directions, aimed by the short pipes on the device. This weakened the spell, of course, but Harry hoped he wouldn't need much time.

Then he took out a batch of instant dark powder and tossed it into the air. The fire went out.

"_Stupefy!_" Harry said, and five bolts flew towards Avery, Rookwood, Nott, Snape, and Bellatrix. The last two managed to throw up shields, but the rest fell. Harry quickly stunned Goyle and Crabbe and turned to the two people he hated more than anyone in the world except Voldemort.

"How can this—"

"The metamorphmagus," Snape said. "Clever, Potter."

"Harry! It's in the rock!" Smith shouted.

"_Reducto!_" Harry cried. The large rock next to Snape broke apart, and a small golden cup fell out.

"_Accio!_" Bellatrix shouted.

"_Accio!_" Snape yelled a moment later.

"_Accio!_" Harry cried in desperation.

Harry's spell prevailed and the cup sailed into his hands. Snape aimed his wand at him, but had to throw off someone else's attack. Harry glanced behind. Tonks already freed Hermione and Neville, and was helping Luna.

"_Quasso,_" Snape said, and sent a spell upwards. The result was a distant roar.

Within seconds, the rest of the prisoners were freed. Snape and Bellatrix barely managed to dodge all the spells thrown at them.

The roar that Harry heard when Snape cast his spell was getting louder. "Avalanche!" Ron yelled.

Several people screamed. "_Accio broomsticks!_" Harry shouted, and fired off another _Sectumsempra _at Snape.

"Bellatrix, get over here!" he yelled. "_Accio Nott. Accio_—"

Harry's next spell hit his hand, and Snape dropped his wand. He glared at him with hatred.

"I don't think so!" Neville rushed and grabbed Bellatrix, who was trying to get to Snape. Snape, holding Nott's body, vanished. A white wall of snow crashed through the trees a moment later. The broomsticks leaped up.

Hovering over the snow river, Harry counted the fliers. Ron, Hermione, Parvati, Ginny, Smith, Kingsley, and Tonks were all present. _Luna! Neville!_

"Help!" Luna's voice yelled, far below.

Harry flew faster than he ever did in his life. He registered a broken broomstick—the reason for Luna's situation. He reached out.

"Luna! Catch!" Neville yelled from even farther off. Luna looked up, caught the Portkey cup, and vanished.

Harry cursed himself for not thinking of something so simple. He took his own cup, and, steering with the same hand that held the Horcrux, rushed towards Neville.

"Neville!" he yelled.

Neville looked up. "Har—"

With the full force of the avalanche, Neville smashed into a rock. The snow was immediately bloodied.

Harry dropped both cups and they sank into the snow.

"NO!" Harry shouted, and, ignoring the danger of falling himself, yanked Neville's body out.

There was no doubt that he was dead. His body had a large hole in the back of the head, one leg torn off, and a huge bruise, black from internal bleeding. Harry lifted him out and flew up, ignoring everything.

"Harry!" Ron shouted. "Where's—"

"Neville!" Hermione yelled. "We saw. Is—"

Harry could barely nod. Tears were falling out of his eyes.

"What's that?" Smith asked, pointing downwards.

_Bellatrix's_ _body,_ Harry thought. _Who cares?_

But it wasn't. Instead, it was a large spot of black snow. Smith flew down, and Harry, clutching Neville's body, followed.

A small creek roared at the bottom, washing away the snow of the avalanche. The expansion of black snow reached the water at one spot, and there, on the bottom of the creek, lay two pieces of the golden cup.

Harry realized this meant that the Horcrux was gone, and the black snow was the effect of release of an evil soul. They did what they came to do... but Harry felt miserable. How much more would they have to pay for victory in this war?

Smith picked up the pieces of the cup. Harry struggled to look at him. If he said anything about how valuable this cup was to him, anything about family relics, Harry would tear him apart in rage. Perhaps Smith realized that, so he simply pocketed the pieces and got back on his broom.

"Let's go," Harry said. Then, knowing he couldn't shirk his duty, he gave Neville's body to Kingsley and prepared to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

Harry turned. "I've got to tell Mrs. Longbottom what happened." Before anyone could reply, he took off, faster than any of them could follow. He was almost afraid Neville's ghost would literally haunt him now.


	12. XII

Talking with Augusta Longbottom was terrible. Talking with Luna Lovegood was worse.

Neville's grandmother cried with him and told him it wasn't his fault. It was only because he knew she was sincere that he didn't explode. He still felt the pronouncement was empty. It _was_ his fault.

Harry remembered how Luna helped him find himself again after Sirius' death, and tried to do the same for her. Luna wasn't crying, but it appeared like life was lost out of her. "It's like I don't believe I'll ever see him again," she confessed once. "I believe that about everyone else, but not him. He was special."

"Yes," Harry agreed. "He was."

At the funeral, Harry couldn't find words. However, he remembered very clearly what Hermione said.

"Neville chose what was right over what was easy," she said. "He couldn't have done otherwise, he wouldn't be the Neville we all loved if he had." The words still rang in his ears. _He wouldn't be the Neville we all loved if he had._

_And I wouldn't be the person that I am if I hadn't led him to his death._ It was as simple—and as hard—as that.

He didn't have it in his heart to try to push Ron and Hermione away, knowing it wouldn't work. He was surprised that Ginny, Parvati, Padma, and most surprisingly, Luna stuck by him. His attempt to convince Luna that Neville didn't have to die came to nothing.

"He should have used the Portkey himself. I was closer to you, I would have gotten you out," Harry argued.

"He wouldn't do that. He loved me," Luna replied. There was nothing more for Harry to say.

The D.A. meetings lost their popularity. The only people who attended regularly where the veterans of the Black Forest mission, Daphne Greengrass, and Theodore Nott. Harry deeply regretted not taking the two Slytherins along—perhaps Neville would have lived if he did.

He was talking to Nott in the empty classroom when Ginny came in, followed by Padma, and wordlessly handed him the _Daily Prophet_. "Oh, what now?" Nott asked. "Surely the story didn't get out? Zabini is having a grand time in Slytherin saying you killed Longbottom, but I doubt they'd publish his rants—"

"Worse," Harry replied. "Lucius Malfoy escaped."

"What? How?"

"No clue," Padma said. "Just like Sirius—"

"Don't," Harry said. He read the article. Several other prisoners were gone, but Malfoy was the most prominent one. Harry looked at his friends.

"Just perfect," Ginny said. "So not only can't the Ministry arrest any real Death Eaters, they can't even hold the ones they already have."

Harry gave a few choice words to the Ministry. They might have continued if Hermione didn't run in, flustered.

"Harry!" she shouted. "Ron's been arrested!"

"What?"

"It's Umbridge and Dawlish. They were at Hogsmeade—"

"Come on!" Harry yelled, getting up.

"Daphne was there," Hermione informed them, "but I'm not sure if they took her as—"

"What?" Nott shouted, and increased his pace.

They ran into the Hog's Head, and saw a rather large group of visitors watching as Ron and Daphne Greengrass were bound to chairs and interrogated by Umbridge. Dawlish was arguing with the barkeeper, wand raised.

"I order you, in the name of the Ministry, to lift that Anti-Apparition Jinx, now!"

"This is my property. I can have any Jinx I want on it," the bartender replied. "Hello, Mr. Potter." Heads turned as the five of them burst in.

"Hermione, don't—" Ron yelled.

"Potter," Umbridge said. "Just what I expected. "You'll join your friends here. So should Misses Granger, Weasley, and Patil, and several others, who, I'm sure, we'll be able to get soon."

"And on what charges, may I inquire, are we being arrested?"

"Unauthorized use of Portkeys." Umbridge smiled sweetly. "This is a very serious crime, especially in these times. Such use is one way the Ministry tracks You-Know-Who—"

"Not having much success, are you? At least you admit he exists now. Thank God for small favors. May I see the order?"

Umbridge produced a piece of parchment. "Arrest warrant, signed by the Minister of Magic on February 3rd, 1997." _Yesterday_, Harry thought.

"Charge: unauthorized use of Portkeys to leave and enter British territory," Umbridge continued. "Claimants: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Ginevra Weasley, Parvati—"

Umbridge didn't finish, as the parchment caught fire and turned to ash in her hands. Harry quickly re-concealed his wand, using the spell Nott taught him.

"And what is Daphne here for? She—"

"Disturbing the peace and interfering with lawful arrest—"

"I tried to stop them," Daphne said.

"Now, you—"

"Listen up. The Minister knows perfectly well what my position is. Tell him that I don't care one whit about him or the Ministry. Tell him to stop hunting me so I can do what I can to stop Voldemort and tell him to do what he can. Tell—"

Dawlish and Umbridge pointed their wands at him. "You're under arrest—"

Harry drew his own wand, followed by the rest of his company. "You seem to be under the impression that I will come quietly," he said, knowing this would anger Umbridge.

"Dawlish is an Auror, Potter. Haven't—"

"There's six of us and only two of you."

"Seven," a new voice said from the door. Parvati drew her wand and joined the group.

The two Ministry employees prepared to cast their spell, but then a shout of "_Stupefy!_" roared in the pub, and both of them fell.

"Enough," the bartender said. "I'm sure you could have taken them, Mr. Potter, but you'll have less trouble like this. Good luck."

"Thanks," Harry said, shocked by what just happened. He released the bonds on Ron and Daphne. "Let's get back to Hogwarts. We're in serious trouble. Malfoy—"

"Escaped," Daphne said. "We know."

"Is it somehow connected to this?" Hermione asked.

"What, the arrest?" Ron replied. "Don't see how."

Harry found Luna Lovegood and Zacharias Smith and told them what happened. "They know better than to try and interfere with Hogwarts again, but they're going to watch and try to get us outside. As if we don't have enough to worry, with both Malfoys on the loose again."

"So what're you saying? We're stuck here?" Smith demanded.

"No, I'm saying we should be extra careful. The Ministry is not our friend or even neutral here. Just keep this in mind."  
A short elation the triumph over Umbridge vanished. The group split heavy-hearted, but Harry was surprised at his own feeling. Grief over Neville was still there, just like grief over Sirius and Dumbledore was, but once again, determination burst into the forefront.

"I don't like that it had to happen now," Hermione said. "We may need to travel abroad again soon."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I got the idea this morning, but then Ron got into—"

"Hey—"

"Hermione, it's okay. What is it?"

"I think I know where the last Horcrux is."

XXX

Harry couldn't believe this. "How did you figure this out?"

"I've been talking to Professor Lupin. He told me what he learned last year, while undercover with other werewolves."

Harry remembered the battle in the castle and Fenrir Greyback. "He told you?" Harry asked. "I'd think he wouldn't want to remember."  
"He didn't. Not at first. I persuaded him, telling him you needed this but were afraid to ask."  
"What?" Harry demanded.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but you were always his favorite student and—"

"Hermione, what did you find out?" Ron asked.

"You told us last year that Voldemort's first Death Eaters were his school buddies," Hermione began. "But we know about many others, correct?"

"Of course," Harry said. "There just wouldn't be enough, even if he recruited the entire Slytherin class that year."

"He continued recruiting afterwards, and not just in Britain. The first mass recruitment was among Easter European wizards in the early '50s. Antonin Dolohov, Igor Karkaroff, and—Fenrir Greyback, among others."

"So?"

"According to interrogations from the first war—"

"Whose interrogations?" Harry asked.

"Of ex—_supposedly _ex-Death Eaters like Karkaroff and Snape."

"Oh, we should believe them," Harry said.

"Wait. The details they gave have been partially confirmed, and are difficult to make up. They concerned the Death Eater initiation ceremony."

"Get to the point, Hermione."

"Ceremonies occurred in places strong with ancient magic."

"Stonehenge," Ron said. "You—"

"He came there several times. We can't be certain, but I think Lucius Malfoy and the Lestranges were initiated there."

"Does it matter?"

"You told me to look up places important to Voldemort. The cave where his orphanage went. Hogwarts. Th—"

"But—"

"_Where he initiated for the first time his most loyal followers_," Hermione emphasized. "the first time. I couldn't find any evidence of the Dark Mark appearing in any form, anywhere, before 1952, several months after the first ceremony. And then, Lupin told me that Fenrir Greyback had spent most of the time last year there, doing an important project for Voldemort."

"Where?"

"Transylvania," Hermione replied. "The castle of Count Dracula."  
"You've got to be kidding," Ron said. "You want us to go _there_?"

"No," Harry said. "No one _wants_ to go there. We _have _to."

"Do you have a clue how many wizards tried it?"

"Of course, Ron."

"And—"

"And no one returned. But Harry's right. There's nothing Voldemort would protect the way he would a Horcrux—especially if he thought Dumbledore might have been onto the others."

"Transylvania's in Romania," Ron said thoughtfully. "Charlie might help us."

"I thought so. How does he travel?"

"Portkey, usually. Authorized by the Ministry, and they won't let us tag along. Besides, he's there now."

"We can't Apparate that far," Hermione said.

"Broomsticks?" Ron suggested.

Harry shook his head. "You've never taken a long trip, have you?" He told them how the flight from Privet Drive to London two years ago felt, with the cold, rain, and numbness. "We're talking about a trip of over a thousand miles."

"More unauthorized Portkeys?" Hermione asked gloomily.

"Kingsley and Tonks are probably watched, and I don't want to be detected. At all. Besides, I'd like to get some more help, and we'd need a little detour for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Hermione, I need you to contact Viktor Krum, so we can meet him in Bulgaria."

"What?" Ron spat. "Why?"

"He knows the place."

"So does Charlie. You aren't serious—"

"I'm perfectly serious, Ron," Harry said.

Ron shook his head. "This is crazy."

"Ron, why—" Hermione tried.

"Stop," Harry said. "Krum or not, we still need a way to get there undetected."

They looked at him. "Do you have a way, Harry? Apparate in stages? But that's difficult—"

"No. We're going to arrive there quickly, and if necessary, ready to fight. We're also going to arrive undetected by our or any other Ministry of Magic. Or by Voldemort. None of them will even consider us doing that."

"How?" Ron asked.

Harry smiled. "We use Muggle transportation."


	13. XIII

Hermione and Ron spent the trip back to the common room arguing over Harry's plan, Hermione complaining that she, as a Muggle-born, should have come up with it herself and Ron thinking the whole idea was crazy. Harry didn't butt in.

Ginny was waiting for them. "Where's Parvati?" Harry asked.

"Hospital wing," Ginny said. "Pneumonia. Padma went to visit her."

"I better do the same," Harry said, and, quickly running upstairs and taking something from his dorm, departed.

"Hi, Parvati," he said, entering the room. "Hey, Padma."

"Harry!" Parvati said hoarsely, but clearly happy to see him.

"I'm sorry you caught pneumonia," he said. "It's a bad time."

"Why?" Padma suddenly asked.

"I have to leave. Again," Harry said. "Don't look at me like that, Parvati. I've told you, it'll be like this as long as Voldemort exists."

"And I can't come..."

"Not with pneumonia, you can't. I'm sorry."

"You're not," Parvati said. "You're glad you have an excuse to keep me safe."

"Maybe I am. But his time, it's not an excuse, it's a reason. I would take you otherwise."

"Is everyone going—"

"No. I'm sorry, but—" he looked at Padma— "you and Ginny should stay behind this time. As soon as Parvati gets well, you three are going to be the rescue team—we might need one."

"So—"

"Myself, Ron, Hermione, Theodore, Daphne, Professor Lupin, and Hagrid," Harry said.

"That's a big team."

"It's a dangerous place."

"Where?"

Harry whispered it in Parvati's ear. She looked terrified. "You can't!"

"I have to," Harry said gloomily. And since I may not be here the day after tomorrow, I better give you this now," he said, uncovering a package he brought.

A small box revealed two lockets in forms of golden phoenixes on golden chains. The eyes of the phoenixes were small rubies.

"It's February 4th, not 6th, but as I said, I may not be around then. Happy birthday!"

"Oh, Harry," Parvati whispered. "Why two?"

"One's for me," Harry explained. "As long as we wear these,when one of us is in great danger, the eyes on the other locket will flash. Also, you can make them flash yourself." Harry twisted the tail of one phoenix and the eyes on the other lit up.

"Thank you, Harry. I'll watch this constantly, you know."

"So will I. Now," he said, "I didn't forget Padma." He reached into his back and produced a book. "Ginny said you wanted this, but couldn't find it in the library." The book cover read, _Atlantis: Ancient Magic or Ancient Myth?_

"Thanks. If you don't mind, can I ask you something?"  
Harry was surprised. "Sure, why not?"

"How do you tell us apart? Or... _do _you?"

"Padma!" Parvati exclaimed.

Harry chuckled. "I don't mind. The answer... it's the hair."

"What? We have the same hair!" Padma said. "We even wear it in the same style."

"Not _your_ hair," Harry replied. He reached and pulled a loose hair out of Padma's head. "Take a look."  
"What? It's a hair."

"It's _red_," Harry said simply.

Parvati chuckled. "Harry!"

"What?"

"How do you _really_ tell us apart."

"I told you—"

"We get it. A good joke, but you don't go looking into our heads for Ginny's hair every time you meet one of us."

"You may not like to hear this, but you are identical as long as you sit still and keep quiet. Since neither of you does that very often, it's not hard to tell you apart. Ginny worried about this when—"

"When the two of us dated," Parvati said, embarrassed for both of them.

"Recover, Parvati," Harry said quickly. He smiled at her. "I'll come before leaving, don't worry. Good luck."

He first went to see Professor Lupin. "Hello, Harry," the Defense teacher said.

"Professor, I'm going to Transylvania."

Lupin looked him over. "I thought you might. Can—"

"Voldemort clearly hid something important there, Professor?"  
Lupin nodded. That's what it looks like. You want me to come along."  
Harry nodded. "You know more than anyone else about Fenrir Greyback, and what he might have done."

"It's full moon in two days, so I won't be able to travel. I'll join you there," he said.

"You don't have to do this, Professor," Harry said.

"I do, Harry. For your parents... for Sirius... for Dumbledore... I have to do all I can against Voldemort. I trust you, Harry."

"I know. But after..."

"I know you feel responsible for Neville's death. I felt responsible for your parents'. I will come with you."

"Thank you, Professor. In Romania, then?"

"In Romania."

After leaving Lupin's office, Harry proceeded to visit Hagrid. "Hello, Harry," the half-giant greeted him. "What're you up ter?"

"Hagrid, I need your help. Remember last year, when Dumbledore was traveling everywhere?"

"'Course I do, Harry. Why?"

"I've been continuing that. He's been looking for items Voldemort hid, which we need to recover if we're to defeat him."

"You never told me any o' that," Hagrid said, disappointed.

"Sorry. We think we found another item like that. It's now in a very dangerous place, and we need all the help we can get."

"Where're you plannin' on goin'?" Hagrid asked.

"Transylvania," Harry replied, hoping he wouldn't have to explain further.

It didn't work. "Not Dra—"

Harry nodded.

"Harry, yer can't go. I forbid—"

"I'm an adult, Hagrid. I'm going, no matter what."

Hagrid looked at him. "And—"

"Ron and Hermione are coming—I wouldn't be able to stop them. I will ask Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott—"

"Nott!" Hagrid exclaimed.

"Hagrid, it's okay. He's explained exactly what he thinks of his father, and I believe him."

Hagrid shook his head. "Yer are asking—"

"Please," Harry said.

"All righ', Harry. Jus' 'cause it's yer. And I think I'll take a detour—"

"That wouldn't be to France, would it?" Harry asked.

Hagrid looked both angry and embarrassed. "I don' know what you're talkin' about," he said. "Where do we meet?"

"On Charlie Weasley's dragon preserve in Romania," Harry said. "In three days."

"All righ'," Hagrid agreed. "But I warned yer, it's—"

"Hagrid, I'm not doing this for fun."

"I know yer are not. I'll meet you. And good luck."

"Thanks, Hagrid."

XXX

Persuading Nott and Greengrass to go to Count Dracula's castle was a lot easier than persuading them to use Muggle transportation to do it. Nott was even shocked that Muggles had a way to fly a t all. Greengrass, who had taken Muggle Studies, was more informed, but she was also very reluctant. Ultimately, Harry had to tell them that he had no intention of any of them getting detected, so they would either go by airplane, or not go at all.

Harry spent the next day setting up the trip. Hermione was the only one of them who had a valid Muggle passport, and Harry thought he'd have to try to buy fakes, when Greengrass suggested they duplicate Hermione's ID by magic and change the necessary details. After a good deal of effort to get Ron's picture to stop moving, the five of them had a set of travel documents, and Harry could buy tickets to Sophia, Bulgaria, for tomorrow evening.

"I still think you're nuts, Potter," Nott said after inspecting his passport. "Muggles don't carry around broomsticks and wands—"

"And neither will we. Broomsticks, I mean," Hermione explained. "We'll pack them and turn them in as luggage. Same for the robes. As for wands, we'll keep them in holsters—we're not likely to need them. Muggle scanners will only register wooden sticks."

"Are you sure—"

"I've traveled with my wand before," Hermione said. "Don't worry."

Once everyone was ready, dressed in Muggle clothes and packed, Harry went to the hospital wing. Parvati was getting better, but still too weak to come along. "Sorry for giving you such a birthday present," Harry said.

"Don't worry. But if I see these flashing—" she held up the locket he gave her— "pneumonia or not, I'm coming after you."

"Parvati, can I talk to you in private?" he asked, giving Padma, who was sitting nearby, a glance.

Padma nodded and stepped out. "What's going on between us, Parvati?"

"What's going on is whatever you want to go on," she said.

"That doesn't answer. I've told you exactly why—"

"Do you want me to apologize, Harry? I can, but will that mean anything—"

"Damn. I dug my own hole, didn't I?"

Parvati smiled at him. "Harry... you'll come back, and we'll still have time to figure this out."

"What if I don't come back?"

"You will. If don't, I'll kill you."

"A threat?"

"A promise. And I don't break any promises. Good luck." She kissed him on the cheek.

Harry departed happier than he felt at any time since Neville's death. He met his four companions at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds at Hogsmeade.

"Everyone ready? All right. Next stop, Heathrow Airport in London." He Apparated.

XXX

Harry, like everyone else except for Hermione, entered an airport for the first time in his life. But he, at least theoretically, knew what everything was, and the chaos was nothing compared to Hogwarts. He could only imagine what someone like Ron, Daphne, or Theodore felt. Nott, however, didn't show the slightest interest in the place.

"It's a mess," he said, pointing at pieces of paper lying on the floor.

"Hogwarts would be a mess if it weren't for the slave labor of—"

"Hermione—"

"Right," she said. "If I weren't here—"

"Hermione, it'd be more helpful if you helped us," Daphne Greengrass said diplomatically.

"Fine. See what it says on our tickets? Terminal 1, gate 38. British Airways flight 739. That's where we board the plane. But first, we go to the registration counter an turn in our luggage. Just do what I do."

They got into a queue. Hermione presented her ticket, and placed her luggage on the conveyor belt. Harry watched as the attended glued a sticker on her bag and handed her a piece of paper. Hermione stepped away and smiled.

Harry got gotten himself through as easily as she had, although the woman who took in the bags raised an eyebrow at the long thin package that contained Harry's Firebolt. She passed it down without comment, however, and handed Harry his luggage receipt and boarding pass.

Daphne was next, and passed without trouble. Ron and Nott took great care to copy the girls and especially Harry, since they both had the same long packages.

The woman's patience was tested to its limits with the third such package. "What do you have in these?" she asked Nott.

He was dumbstruck, and for a moment it looked like their trip was over before it begun. But Hermione quickly found a way out.

"Theodore!" she shouted. "Hurry up, we'll miss the flight!" She glared at the airport worker's direction.

The woman understood, and silently took the bag in with the rest. "Theodore!" Hermione shouted again. "Your boarding pass!"

Fortunately, Nott was smart enough to understood what this meant, ran back, took the card from the now-smiling woman, and joined the rest.

"Did you have to—"

"Yes, I did," Hermione said. "I had a perfect excuse for the long packages, but I forgot to tell you."

"Oh, thanks for informing us now," Nott said.

"What's the excuse? Some Muggle—"

"The excuse is a ski trip, in case you wanted to know. We're lucky it's still winter, or it wouldn't work."

"Sure it would," Harry said. "In the summer, we'd just say they were water skis. Come on. What's next?"

"Security check," Hermione said. "They'll scan us and our belongings, and check our documents."

"If they ask you why you're going, tell them you're taking a ski trip. If they ask why you aren't at school, tell them your school has holidays now. I'll go first, then Nott, Ron, Daphne, and Harry at the end."

"Why like that?" Ron asked.

"You saw what just happened. It's best if the two of us who know the most about Muggles to be at the ends. It's like hiking. Strongest people at the front and back of the group."

"So I'm weak?" Ron asked angrily.

"When it comes to Muggle travel—yes!" Hermione retorted. "And Nott, and even Daphne. It's a fact. So watch and learn." And with that, Hermione approached the security checkpoint.

She placed her carry-on bag on the belt and walked through, picking up the bag on the other side. She turned and glanced at Nott.

The Slytherin boy awkwardly stepped up and repeated Hermione's actions. The security guard patted him on the sides in several places, and told him to go on. He immediately approached Hermione and began demanding something.

Ron and Daphne went through without problems, although guards did frisk both of them. Harry was already imagining how, for once, everything was working, but, when he stepped under the arch, alarms sounded.

"Do you have anything metal on you?" the guard asked.

"No... wait," he remembered, and took off the locket he wore on his neck. A quick glance told him Parvati wasn't in danger, and he handed it to the guard.

The jewelry was scanned, but since it did its work by magic, rather than technology, nothing registered. Harry stepped through and was about to go on, when the guard stopped him.

"Excuse me, Mr.—"

"Potter," Harry said.

"Potter," the guard agreed. "Where did you get that scar? I never saw one like that. Is that a—"

"It's not a symbol—I got it in a car crash."

"Car crash," the guard said. "When?"

"When I was a baby. You can look in my passport, I've had this forever."

The guard inspected the passport, comparing Harry's picture with the real thing. He finally shrugged, and not finding anything wrong, let him go.

"Great," Harry said once they departed out of range of the guard's hearing. "Even the Muggles want to know about my scar."

The story repeated itself at the boarding, but they finally entered the airplane and found their seats. Nott and Ron complained that there wasn't enough space for their legs, and found the idea of seat belts strange. "How long will this be?" Nott inquired.

"The flight lasts three hours fifteen minutes," Hermione replied. "It's on your ticket."

"Three hours sitting—"

"You're lucky we aren't going to Australia or America. That'd take at least ten hours. And we might have needed to change flights. That's a pain, too."

"How's it going to fly? Will the wings flap?" Nott asked.

Harry managed to quickly cast _Muffliato_, and so no heads turned. "Of course not," Hermione said. "Now stop bothering me. People usually read books on long flights." She took one out and sank into it.

Finally, the plane had left the terminal and began the trip. Nott and Ron actually enjoyed the takeoff, but Daphne looked sick, and Nott clenched her hand the whole time. Once the plane leveled, they quickly got bored looking out the windows, which showed nothing but clouds below. Ron commented that broomsticks couldn't fly this high.

"Or this fast," Hermione interjected and went back to her book.

Not even Hermione had a word of defense, however, about airplane food. They ate because they were hungry, but it felt hart after the excellent Hogwarts cooking.

There was little trouble once they landed, except for the repeated inquiries about Harry's scar. But once they received their luggage and exited outside, a surprise waited for them.

"Hermione!" a voice yelled.

"Viktor!" she shouted with joy. And, before Harry could stop her, ignoring or not noticing Ron's clenched fists, she dropped her bags, ran downstairs, and embraced him.


	14. XIV

They spent the night in Viktor Krum's house. Ron strained to be polite, and, as soon as dinner was over, headed outside. Harry joined him.

Ron looked at him angrily. "She likes me. Yeah, she does—if Krum isn't around."

"Ron, she does."

"Didn't look like—"

"Please. She hugs me all the time."

"That's different."

"How?"

"You... you're... well, you're you!"  
"Of course I'm me. You know, if someone didn't know us, they might expect us to date, with the hole 'hero' thing and all. Rita Skeeter thought so."

"What?"

"You forgot—"

"Of course I didn't forget. But... you now like Hermione—"

"I _don't_. Not in that way. I'm saying people might expect us to. And we might." Ron looked terrified. "It's not like Hermione is my long-lost sister, or something. The only thing in the way is that both of us fancy other people. I like Parvati, and Hermione likes—"

"Krum."

"No. Not Krum."

"So why's she spending so much time with—"

"First, he knows this region better than any of us, and we'll need that. Second, she also spends a lot of time with me, Ginny, Parvati, Padma, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Lupin. Like I said, it means nothing. She even kissed me once!"

"And—"

"Listen up. When you asked her out, she told you she needed time to think. Tell her that you gave her time, but that she should decide—because this is hard for you, especially when you don't know whether you should give up—"

"You don't know—"

"I _do_ know. It was a lot more painful seeing Ginny with Dean than with Padma, because with the latter, it was clear that I had to give up and move on. If Ginny was still dating a guy, I don't know if I'd risk dating Parvati—or anyone else."

"So how do I tell her this? Burst in—"

"Of course not! Get her alone and tell her."

But Ron was unable to do that over the whole of the next day, while they first fixed and flew on a large flying carpet Krum found in the basement of his house. "The Bulgarian Ministry of Magic," Krum explained, "forbade Apparating outside several specified locations, to better trace the activities of You-Know-Who."

"So where're we going?" Harry asked.

"To one of those sites, from which we can Apparate to Romania. That is where you're going, right?"

Hermione nodded. "We're going to meet a few friends there, before we go on our mission."

Krum returned to steering the carpet. Ron saw that there was no way to get Hermione alone here.

_Don't worry, what you can't do, Krum can't either_, Harry wrote to Ron on a note. The idea didn't cheer Ron up.

They finally landed at the designated location. There were other people there, and they had to wait to make sure that none o f them got a trace on their destination. When they Apparated into Romanian mountains, everyone breathed with relief.

"There you are, Harry," Professor Lupin said. "We've been waiting for you."

Charlie Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks stood next to him. Charlie hugged his brother and then shook Harry's hand. "Hello there. So you finally decided to visit me in my,—" he chuckled, — "natural environment."

"Wotcher, Harry," Tonks said. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't talk about it," Harry cut her off. He had no intention of listening to apologies about Neville.

"Harry!" Hagrid shouted, stepping out of the woods. Madame Maxine, as large as him, followed.

Harry greeted them, and quickly got to the issue. He took out a map of Romania.

"We're right here, correct?" Getting a nod of agreement from Charlie, he continued, "How far to Count Dracula's castle?"

"Twenty miles, give or take a few hundred yards," Charlie said. "You aren't—"

"I am. Voldemort hid an important item there, and I've got to recover it. Knowing him, he'd put it at the top of the highest tower and place defenses all the way to the bottom."

Everyone nodded. "And we'll need rest after we Apparate. I guess this means storming it at night," Hermione concluded.

No one liked the idea, but waiting till morning was dangerous in two different ways. First, the disappearance of Harry and his friends from Hogwarts would be known, if it wasn't already, by both the Ministry and Voldemort. Second, the night would be cold, and spending it outside, even as warmly dressed as they were, was calling trouble upon themselves. The castle, booby-trapped or not, would be warmer.

They Apparated, and saw the towers of the castle, which stood out against the sky like sharp teeth.

Harry shivered. There was nothing to do but go forward.

"All right," he said. He mounted his broomstick and tried to take off. Tried, since, no matter how much he pushed up, the Firebolt didn't rise even an inch.

"What's wrong with my broomstick?" he asked.

"Nothing," Daphne Greengrass said. "Look, no one else can take off either."

"If a Firebolt—"

"Why can't we?"

"There's probably an anti-hover charm operating in this area," Charlie said.

"Oh," Hermione replied. "Could we break it?"

"You have to get to the source," Daphne replied. "If it's also on top—"

"We do it the hard way," Harry said and began the climb.

XXX

They all suffered significantly from thorns by the time they finished the climb and reached the gate of the castle. Harry cut off all complaints by stating that they'd be very, very lucky if thorns were all Voldemort put in their way.

And indeed, as soon as they finished the climb and were about to walk over the drawbridge into the castle, the terrain lit up, and an enormous dragon fell in front of them. Two more, smaller ones, appeared behind and landed on small towers on the walls of the castle.

"Back up... slowly," Charlie ordered. "Wands ready, stun on my command."

Charlie stepped forward and, raising his wand, cast a spell.

The dragon lowered its head. The smaller dragons, though, raised their necks to the sky and released fountains of fire, whose roars echoed in the mountains. The large dragon turned and nearly burned Charlie.

"Now!" he desperately shouted.

"_Stupefy!_" eight voices shouted at once. Eight stunners hit the dragon and brought it down.

The two small dragons again released the fire, and, to Charlie's and everyone else's shock, the large dragon rose.

"Stun the little ones!"

"_Stupefy!_" the wizards cried. It was useless. The large dragon covered the small ones, took the stunners, and was revived before it even lowered fully.

"I've never encountered anything like this," Charlie muttered. "Unless..."

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" he yelled, aiming at the small dragon's tail.

As soon as he hit it, a change came over the beast. The dragon took to the air and made to rush them. "Stun them!" Charlie shouted.

They were already doing it. "_Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!_" rang out several times, and the three dragons lay in front of the castle. Harry looked at the largest one, with only the head being over eight feet long.

"Lucky for us it fell this way," Harry said. The dragons burned a portion of the drawbridge in their attempts to get Charlie, but the large head now lay over that part.

"Ugh! Walking on a dragon?" Daphne said. "Never thought I'd—"

"Come on," Nott said, and picking Daphne up, carried her over the head. "There you go." Daphne looked both embarrassed and pleased.

"Come on," Harry said.

The rusty gate was locked, but Hagrid broke it with one push, and they stepped into a stone corridor. They were about to light their wands when torchlight filled the place, and a voice rang out.

"All the mortals that disturbed us have joined us. You will be no different."

On the other end of the corridor, seven gates opened, and a vampire stepped out of each, the largest one in the center. They were followed by seven more vampires, and seven more. Seven rows of seven vampires stood in front of them when the center one stepped up and spoke.

"There are more of us in the dungeons. Thousands of us. We pay no heed to wizards, and we do not do their bidding. You have disturbed us, and for—"

He didn't finish, as a vampire separated from their group and approached him.

Tonks! _What's she thinking?_ Harry thought.

"Brother—"

"Sister," Tonks corrected. "These have not come to disturb us."

"They disturbed—"

"They came to end the disturbances once and for all. They will remove what wizards come here for, and they will not return."

"Do you swear a blood oath that this is so?"

"I do."

"Then we let these wizards pass," the vampire said. And the vampires silently turned around and marched back into their gates. As soon as the last one vanished, the gates shut. Harry spotted a small ladder in the corner and pointed at it.

Tonks turned back to her usual self. "The last time I changed into a vampire was when I was twelve, for fun. It's really uncomfortable to talk with these fangs."

They climbed up the ladder—all except Hagrid. When the giant put his full weight on it, the old bricks broke, and the ladder, losing its support, fell down with Hagrid.

"'Agrid!" Madame Maxine shouted.

"It's okay, Olympe," Hagrid said. "Yer go on. I'll find a way an' join yer. Good luck, all of yer. Yer especially, Harry."

Madame Maxime wished to stay, but Professor Lupin pointed out that the castle got more dangerous as you went up, meaning that the group needed her more than Hagrid did.

In the next hallway, their steps echoed quietly until something cracked under Hermione's foot. She brought her wand light closer, out of curiosity, and nearly fell.

"Bones," she said. "Human bones."

"Aaargh!"

"Incendio!" Madame Maxime said, and all the torch posts in the room suddenly had lights in them.

Harry screamed. Hermione's arm was held by a skeletal hand, which was pulling her into the ground.

Ron ran up and kicked the arm. That made things worse, as a second skeleton arm appeared out of the ground and grabbed Ron's leg.

"_Reducto!_"

Two spells from Harry and Krum shattered the arms, but in response, the floor of the entire room came alive. Skeletons rose out, all looking right at them. The skeletons were armed with swords, shields, and spears. Some skeletons held long, heavy bones like clubs. All sizes seemed to be present: dwarfs, humans in all forms, half-giants, and giants. At the end of the hall stood a skeleton at least thirty feet tall. It raised a hand the size of a sofa and pointed at them. The skeleton army understood.

Spears flew at them, skeletons with melee weapons pressed the attack. "_Reducto!_" Harry cried. Others around him were doing the same, but with little success: skeletons kept attacking, and they threw bones that were lying on the ground with tremendous force. Soon, there was nothing to do but keep focus on keeping the shields up to block these missiles.

"_Lubrio!_" Daphne said, aiming at the floor. Around the place where the spell hit, skeletons slipped on the solid ground, fell, and broke. The others seized on the idea and began clearing the room. But the skeleton army was so large that it managed to slip individual warriors in between slippery spots, so sometimes Harry had to use the reductor curse at point-blank range.

"_Lubrio!_" Daphne shouted. "I've got him!"

"Got who?" Nott demanded, dodging three skeletons with spears. "_Reducto! Reducto! _Aaargh!"

Two skeletons fell, but the third managed to put the spear deep into Nott's leg. Then the thirty-foot skeleton slipped and broke apart, like the others, which vanished along with their master.

"Theo," Daphne whispered. "Did—"

"I'm alive," Nott said.

"Let me see." Tonks approached them.

"Will—"

"You'll live. The wound isn't serious, but the bone was broken. I can't do much here—just get the spear out, wash it—_Aguamenti—_and bind it. You'll need a Healer."

"We've got to get him downstairs, away from the fighting," Daphne said. "I can't carry him alone."

"I'll go, then I'll try to find Hagrid and meet up with you," Charlie suggested.

"All right," Harry said. "But I don't like splitting up. Get back as soon as possible.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Krum, Madam Maxime, Tonks, and Lupin headed farther up. "One good thing about this," Daphne said before they split up.

"What?" Harry asked.

"The broomsticks are working again," she said, pointing to Nott's broom, which hovered nearby, ready to take a passenger.

Harry still considered how best to put the broomsticks to use (he, Krum, and Nott were the only ones who took theirs into the castle despite the anti-hovering charm when they appeared outside, standing on a wall. "And here's the highest tower!" Hermione pointed to the entrance right next to them. "There must be a spiral staircase there that leads all the way to the top."

"The top! I think it's a bit too high for some people," another voice said. "Hello, Remus," Fenrir Greyback greeted them.


	15. XV

Four more werewolves stood behind Greyback. Harry raised his wand.

"Run!" Remus shouted.

"Pro—"

"This isn't your fight, Harry. Go!"

Harry obeyed, but not before, having already entered the tower, sending an incendiary charm at Greyback. "I'll bite you for that, Potter!" Greyback shouted in rage.

Harry headed up. The last word from Greyback he heard was "traitor."

"Watch out!" he shouted ahead, spotting the danger. A sharp spike flew out of the wall and nearly pierced Krum.

"How—"

"Voldemort probably didn't think anyone would get past dragons, vampires, skeletons, and werewolves, so he doesn't put anything big here. But he'd never have so much room _completely _without defenses. Sometimes it's better to have an unlucky enemy than a weak one."

Harry was right. They passed several more minor traps on the way to the top, where they found an ordinary-looking room. It lit up as soon as they entered.

Except for a small walkway and a column on every corner, the room was empty. The light was coming from an enormous fire which burned in the pit below. The ceiling was covered with long spikes like a hide of a giant porcupine. In between, seemingly in mid-air, hung a large bronze key.

"Well, now that our broomsticks work, this should be a piece of cake," Harry said, getting on his Firebolt.

"Harry, wait!" Hermione warned him. "I think it's a trap. Here." She tossed a rock into the chamber.

Two tiny objects separated from the key, trailing thin strands of some sort behind them. They wrapped the rock into a cocoon of these strings,, and set up a swing to take it periodically up and down—into the fire and towards the spikes.

"Damn," Harry said. "Even if we destroy one, the other will destroy us."

Ron was smiling. "Guys, this is perfect! This is exactly what You-Know-Who didn't count on!"  
"What're you talking about, Veasley?" Krum asked.

"We've got, right here, two of the best Seekers in the world. Catch these two things—and we've got the key!"

"I'm not in the same league as—"

"I've seen you fly," Krum interrupted. "Trust me. You _are. _Let's do it."

They got on their broomsticks and took to the air.

The two small snitches took off the key and rushed them, but Harry twisted around, dove underneath the string, and grabbed the object. He looked around. Krum was tightly holding his, and the two strings of silk—since the "snitches" they caught turned out to be small bronze spiders—extended towards the key.

Slowly flying towards each other, Harry and Krum tried to obtain the key. However, the spiders seemed to almost guess their intent, since the strings stretched by themselves and then snapped, leaving the two Seekers with their spiders and the key flying away towards the window.

It would have fallen down the mountains had Ron not intervened. He leaped up, caught the key, landed... and fell down into the pit.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted, and grabbed his legs. But Ron was heavier, and if Harry and Krum hadn't quickly landed and held on to her, she would have fallen in herself. Once all four were safe, Ron held up the key.

Harry reached for it, wondering how this was connected to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor—probably Ravenclaw, with the bronze—but the floor shook beneath them.

"Earthquake?" Harry asked.

"Worse. Last defense. The tower is collapsing."

"Run!"

They headed downstairs in leaps—Harry five steps at a time, Krum eight. They could have flown and been safe, but they had to warn the others if...

_If they're still alive_, was the gloomy thought. Harry didn't finish as he ran onto the lower platform. Tonks and Madame Maxime were lying on the ground, breathing heavily. Four werewolves lay unconscious or dead, and Fenrir Greyback was facing Remus Lupin, who held his wand at the ready.

"Professor, Tonks, the castle is collapsing!"  
"I will die, traitor," Greyback spat at Remus. "But you'll die first!" And Harry before Harry could even raise his wand, he lunged.

He fell at Lupin's feet, dead. Hagrid and Charlie appeared out of the darkness, Hagrid holding his crossbow. The castle shook again.

"Run!" Harry shouted.

He and Krum lifted Tonks up on their broomsticks and Hagrid picked up Madame Maxime. They barely made it into the castle before the tower fell in and blocked the return path.

"Down!" Harry shouted, and they ran through the skeleton room, the vampire room, and outside, past the dragons—the dragons weren't there anymore.

Harry looked around, but there were no dragons anywhere in sight. They were stuck on a drawbridge, fifteen feet of deep moat between them and safety. Nott and Greengrass were on the other side, unable to help them.

He and Krum could fly, of course, but no broomstick would support the weight of Hagrid or Madame Maxime.

"Get Nott and Greengrass over here!" Krum told him.

"What?!" Greengrass yelled. "So we all—"

"I've got a Portkey!"

There was no time to ask where he got it or where it led. "Get over here! Use Nott's broom!" he yelled to Greengrass.

"I've never flown—"

"Damn!" he yelled, and motioning to Krum, flew over himself. He picked up Nott and carried him to the rest. Krum did the same with Daphne. As soon as he did so, he activated the Portkey, and Harry could swear he saw a brick fall through where his head was a fraction of a second before.

He was even more surprised at their arrival location. They were in the lobby of the British Ministry of Magic.

"Tonks, Madame Maxime, and Nott need medical help," Hermione said.

"We'll be in St. Mungo's," Lupin replied. Within moments, he, Daphne, and Hagrid vanished with the wounded.

"Now—" Harry turned to Krum "—why did your Portkey take us here?"

"Because that's how I had it made. I thought with what's going on, you might need to get back to your country quickly. You-Know-Who is British after all. NO offense. I just meant he is more likely to operate at home."

"Too true," Harry said. "But we aren't exactly on friendly terms with the Ministry these days. They tried to arrest us."

"For what?"

"Officially, for unauthorized use of Portkeys, but—"

"But nothing! Breaking in on the Ministry grounds, bringing in foreign spies, attacking Ministry officials in the pursuit of their duties," Umbridge slowly walked towards them. "You-Know-Who will use any weakness—"

"Don't use Voldemort as an excuse for your power grabs. People are _dying_ out there—"

"You are under arrest, Potter. So are Weasley and Granger. As for the foreigner here, he is a spy and will be tried as such. Take them!"

Percy, Dawlish, and several other Aurors moved in. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Krum raised their wands. "This time, we are not outnumbered," Umbridge said. "And no friendly bartender—"

She was right. Seven other Aurors accompanied Umbridge, Percy, and Dawlish. Harry knew they couldn't beat them all without an element of surprise.

"_Stupefy!_" several voices cried at once, and four Aurors fell. Before the rest turned, Harry and his companions did the same. Within the space of seconds, only Umbridge and Percy were standing.

"Hello, brother," Ginny said with contempt.

"We provided the rescue, just like you said," Parvati chuckled.

"Hey, Aurors aren't so tough," Padma commented.

Luna said nothing, just kept her wand raised.

"It's not the Aurors," Harry corrected. "It's their commander."

He turned to Umbridge. "I'm going to the see the Minister of Magic. If he doesn't publicly fire you, I don't know what I'll do. Nothing good, I promise."

Harry flicked his wand, and Percy and Umbridge were instantly bound.

"I've had enough. Are you coming?"

Everyone agreed, and headed to the lift, leaving Percy and Umbridge in the lobby.

Flanked on either side by Ron and Hermione, followed slightly behind by the rest, Harry approached the Minister's office. A light inside indicated that even this late, the Minister was present. Harry knocked. He received no reply, and then swung the door open.

"Ahh... Potter," Rufus Scrimgeour pronounced. "I've been expecting this."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"More precisely, _we've _been expecting you," an all too familiar voice shocked Harry. Lucius Malfoy was once again buddies with the Minister?

Everyone immediately drew their wands. "_Stupefy!_" they shouted in unison.

The spells bounced off—literally, Harry had never seen a shield like that-it deflected spells like a mirror. Luna and Padma fell victims to their own stunners.

Lucius raised his wand and aimed at Hermione. "_Avada Kedavra!_" he shouted.

Both Ron and Krum jumped in front of Hermione. They fell, and Harry and Hermione both shrieked—the curse hit one of them, and may have gotten both. Lucius raised his wand again.

"_Lubrio!_" Harry yelled, aiming at the floor under the Death Eater. Lucius slipped and hit the ceiling, forming a gigantic hole and showering them with dust and pieces of brick.

"_Reducto!_" Harry shouted, attempting to break the shield. He had to dodge the deflected spell. Lucius aimed at Parvati.

"_Sectumsempra!_" Harry roared. The spell exploded like a bomb, and left Lucius cringing in pain, his wand hand blown off."

"_Expelliarmus!_" Parvati and Padma said together, and the Minister, who by now drew his own wand, was thrown back.

Harry then found himself being grabbed by the throat. He dropped his wand, as Lucius Malfoy attempted to choke him with his remaining hand. Harry tried to pry the fingers apart, but the Death Eater was too strong.

Suddenly, Lucius screamed and let go. "That's for the diary," Ginny said, kicking him between the legs again, prompting another scream. "_Petrificus Totalus!_"

"Thanks," Harry said, picking up his wand.

Scrimgeour was glaring at them. "What—"

"Harry, he's under the Imperius curse!" Parvati said.

"_Finite Incantatem!_" Harry said, aiming at Scrimgeour. The attempt brought searing pain. The Imperius must have been put by Voldemort himself. The Minister was acting like a wild animal, cursing at random and attempting to grab hold of a wand.

"_Finite Incantatem!_" Harry tried again. This time, both he and the Minister sank to the floor in exhaust.

Parvati kneeled next to him and he leaned on her shoulder. Hermione was looking Ron and Krum.

"What happened here?" Scrimgeour asked, looking around. "What's he doing—"

"You were under the Imperius Curse, Minister," Harry said.

"Oh my... how long?"

"Did you give Umbridge an order to tail me?"

"Yes," Scrimgeour admitted.

"Did you give her an order to arrest me?"

"No."

"Then at least since the third, since she had one from that date."

"I don't believe it. How did he get to me?"

"I'd guess Polyjuice Potion," Ginny suggested.

"Maybe..."

"_Ennervate_," Harry said, reviving Luna and Padma.

"Hermione..." Ron whispered

"Ron!" Hermione yelled, and kissed him. "Oh, no..." She turned to Krum.

"He isn't—"

Hermione nodded. "No..." She burst into tears. Ron held on to her.

"I owe you," Scrimgeour said.

"And I intend to collect," Harry replied.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Release Stan Shunpike and everyone else you chucked into Azkaban to look like you were doing something. Fire Umbridge. That'd be a good start."

At this point, Hermione looked up at him. "Harry," she whispered, "do you still have the key?"

"Ron does," Harry said. Ron, surprised, Handed it to Hermione.

Hermione got up, still shaking. "Viktor..."

She breathed. "The department of Mysteries. Two years ago. There was a door that wouldn't unlock, remember?"

"You mean—"

"It's lock looked like this."

"Come on," Harry said.

But Hermione turned back to Krum. "I... I can't..."

Harry took the key, and leaving Ron, and Hermione alone with the still-confused Scrimgeour and Krum's body, headed outside. Parvati, Padma, Luna, and Ginny came with him.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked.

"Not here... but I think it's time you four are let in on the secret. You've done more than your share. Voldemort's item is probably behind that door."

"So why didn't he just steal it?" Padma asked.

"Maybe it's hard to steal. Maybe he didn't want to take on the Ministry yet. It's not like he could kill the owner and leave it at that."

They entered the department, and quickly found the locked door. Harry remembered his futile attempt to use the penknife the attempt to rescue Sirius that killed him... he composed himself, took the key, and inserted it.

With a turn, something ran inside, and the door swung open.

No one expected what lay there. The door hid a small room, barely enough for the five of them to fit in. But they did fit in, and that was the big shock.

The chamber was empty.


	16. XVI

Harry felt completely lost for weeks after their foray into Bulgaria, Romania, and the Ministry. The evidence clearly pointed to a Horcrux, but the thread ended because someone—someone other than Voldemort, perhaps even someone opposed to him—removed the item from the Ministry vault. Hermione tried to find out what the item was, but ran into a stone wall, since it concerned the Department of Mysteries.

Hermione and Ron had embarked on a relationship, but it was not the kind of relationship Harry expected them to have. Hermione was still in deep pain over Krum's death, and instead of bickering and humor, the couple seemed to prefer sadness and comfort. Harry knew better than to try to do anything about it, but they seemed to retreat completely into each other, ignoring the others.

Harry quickly told Parvati and the others what Horcruxes were, and why it was important to find the last one, whatever it was. Parvati surprised at Harry's desire to keep it secret in the first place. "You-Know-Who is evil. That's news?"

"Not that. First, we don't want him to know we're on to him."

"If he hasn't figured it out by now, when you and Dumbledore took care of all but one of his Horcruxes, he'd be really dumb."

"Second," Harry continued, "someone else might get the bright idea of making a couple of Horcruxes, and we have the same problem all over again. One Voldemort is more than enough."

"That can be said of all Dark magic. People use it to gain power, at any price. We can't blame the fact that knowledge is available."

"I'd still rather not have Horcruxes be common knowledge."

Parvati had to agree. "But Harry, we know the _real_ reason you haven't told anyone besides Ron and Hermione."

"Dumbledore asked me not to."

"Exactly, Harry. But unfortunately, Dumbledore isn't here."

"Don't remind me. You didn't know him like I did... I miss him, Parvati."

"I know. So why did you choose to tell me now?"

"I think he'd approve, at least in this instance... but the real reason... It just didn't feel right to have you risk your life so much and not knowing the reason."

"I know the reason. I'm risking my life for you."

"Why?"

"Haven't you figured it out already?"

"I'm supposed to figure you out? You're the strangest girl I've ever met."  
"This coming from someone who hangs around Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood."

"What do you have against Hermione and Luna? Are you jealous?"

"Don't be silly, I have nothing against them. It's just that most people would say I'm normal compared to them. Do I have reason to be jealous?"

"No reason. I knew perfectly well who Hermione fancied for a long time. And at this point, any attempt to date Luna should be considered taking advantage. She really loved Neville. And as for what most people would say, I'm not most people."

"True," Parvati said, running her fingers through his hair. "You're far sexier than most people."

"Parvati, please stop flirting with me unless you're serious."

"I'm serious. The question is, are you? You promised we'd settle the issues when you returned from the mission to Transylvania. Well?"

"All right. I've known for along time that I can trust you with my life. I'm not so certain that I can trust _anyone_ with my heart—I told you already that people died because they loved me—"

"That's what I'm telling you, Harry. If I love you, I'd risk my life for you whether we're dating or not, and I did that, as you well know. So it makes hardly any difference."

"You're more public when you date me. You're more of a target."

"My life is mine to risk. I'm willing to take that risk."

"Then I suppose I have to take the risk of dating you in the first place. I'm not perfect and neither are you, but if Ron and Hermione can work things out, I don't see why we shouldn't."

"I'm not sure I like that comparison. Didn't they used to argue all the time?"

"_Used to_. And even if they start up again, it doesn't matter. That's just who they are. I've known longer than you. They enjoy it. Most of the time."

"We won't be like them—"

"We've already had our share of conflicts."

"I promise I won't run to Dean every time—"

"Forget about it. We solve our problems by ourselves. Deal?"

"Deal? And Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I meant it. I'd risk my life if you were in danger, regardless of our dating status. That's a dangerous gift you gave me, you know. I love you, Harry."

For a long time afterwards, not a single word was said in the room.

XXX

Personally, the next few months were among the happiest Harry has ever had. But the search for Horcruxes had run into a dead end, and that frustrated Harry so much that it seemed to transfer to the others. When Hermione tried to point out that they have done all they could, he responded sharply, "Not enough, is it? People are still dying!" and was in a foul mood for days. Compared to last year, when life continued in much the usual way despite the war, Hogwarts was a quiet, subdued place.

At least the Ministry wasn't working against him anymore. In fact, Rufus Scrimgeour was now willing to do almost anything to help him, but even that didn't do much good. No one, in the Ministry or outside, had any idea what was kept inside the room the key they made such efforts to recover unlocked.

One evening, Harry, remembering that the bartender of the Leaky Cauldron, Tom, had been there since before Voldemort's school days, and seeing nothing else to do, decided to go and talk to him. Tom was always helpful when they needed to stay at his pub without half the wizarding world knowing about it, and Harry decided that he was, at least nominally, on their side. It couldn't hurt, and they didn't really have any other options on the table.

"You-Know-Who often did come in here when he was at Hogwarts and afterwards, working at Borgin & Burke's," Tom replied to Harry's question. "If I had known then I would have paid more attention to what he and his friends talked about—if they were careless enough to let me eavesdrop, of course, which I doubt."

"No mentions of the Department of Mysteries at any time?"

"Not that I recall. They did talk about the Ministry often, and they... never hid their low opinion of it."

Harry had stopped being bothered by the similarities between him and Voldemort a long time ago. The differences, as Dumbledore pointed out, far outweighed them. And Tom's next statement proved that once more.

"'A pack of Muggle-loving fools' is about the mildest you could expect from them."

Harry had thought about his next question when something stung him. He realized it was the pendant hanging around is neck, and took it out. The ruby phoenix eyes were flashing.

"Damn!" he said. "Parvati's in trouble, I've got to go!" And he Disapparated before Tom could say anything.

Apparating in Hogsmeade, he ran faster than he ever did before. While there was no Dark Mark over the castle, like last year, Harry could sense something terrible happening. And right at the entrance of the castle, he found Lupin and Tonks, their stunned bodies lying on the ground, and apelike figures of Crabbe and Goyle—Draco Malfoy's school goons—standing over them.

"_Stupefy!_" he shouted, and fell Crabbe. Goyle raised his wand before collapsing under another stunner.

Since it was preposterous to think that Lupin and Tonks were defeated by Crabbe and Goyle, that meant there were more Death Eaters around... probably already inside. Chaos reigned in the halls of the castle, as students, faculty, and Order members fought Voldemort's followers everywhere. Harry had no idea how they got in this time, and he didn't care. One thing occupied his mind. _Find Parvati_.

"Harry!" the voice of Hermione called out. He turned. She and Ron were engaging two Death Eaters.

"Aaa!" Ron screamed as as well-aimed curse from one of them drew a fountain of blood from his arm. Hermione rushed towards him.

"_Crucio!_" the other Death Eater said, causing Hermione to drop next to her boyfriend. Harry raised his wand, but something hit him in the back. He felt dizzy... couldn't see straight.

"The Dark Lord wants to meet with you, Potter," he heard the voice of Dolohov.

"_Stupefy!_" someone yelled. "_Finite Incantatem!_"

Harry got up and turned to see Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass approaching. The death Eater who was torturing Hermione turned as well. It was Nott's father.

"Why are you fighting for these blood-traitors, son?" the elder Nott demanded.

Theodore raised his wand. "Shut up. You know why. Harry, Malfoy went towards the dungeons. Parvati and Ginny—"

Harry nodded and ran downstairs. Nott started a duel with his father.

Harry got to the first floor and was ready to rush into the place where he had spent so many unpleasant hours with Snape, but what he saw above the last staircase stopped him cold. Padma, Parvati, and Ginny hovered in mid-air in an all too familiar way, and below them stood Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who looked at him smugly.

Harry lifted his wand and pointed it at Malfoy. "Let them go," he said.

XXX

Malfoy's grin vanished. Harry nearly cast a spell before realizing the danger. He continued pointing at Malfoy. His school nemesis had changed, and not for the better. Unlike last year, he didn't look to have any problems with killing three people.

"Let them go," Harry repeated.

"Or what? Can you get both of us and save your little girlfriends?"

"In fact," Malfoy continued, "I can drop them right now, and you won't be able to do a thing."

_I can drop them right now_. He remembered what Parvati told him, long ago, about seeing herself—or Padma—falling in the crystal ball. _Could it_—

"Keep talking, Malfoy," Harry said. "My friends will show up—"

"Or mine," Malfoy countered. "Your buddies are getting thin, aren't they? Longbottom and the Bulgarian idiot are dead, the werewolf is down, I've already killed the Lovegood girl—"

"You're lying," Harry said, even though he knew he probably wasn't. If Malfoy wanted to boast, he'd tell him he killed Hermione.

Harry pointed his wand at Pansy and thought, _Levicorpus!_ Malfoy looked shocked as the one-sided hostage situation became a mirror one, but quickly recovered.

"The difference between us, Potter, is that I don't care if you kill Pansy, as long as I get to bring you to the Dark Lord—"

"If that's what you want, you can let them go. I will come along," Harry said. "And you're lying. You do care." He lifted Pansy higher.

"That's enough, Potter!" Malfoy said. "The Dark Lord awaits." He threw a spell out.

Several things happened at once. Parvati, Ginny, Padma, and Pansy all dropped—the first three because Malfoy had to let go to attack Harry, and Pansy because Harry threw up a shield to protect himself. Harry spotted something small moving on the floor, and the next moment, Wormtail was standing at the top of the stairs, having transformed from his Animagus form.

Harry was about to curse him when the ex-Marauder raised his wand and, catching all the girls, lowered them to the ground. By the look on Malfoy's face, he was as shocked as Harry by this development, although he swung to action before Harry managed to gather himself.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" he shouted, and Harry dropped. Wormtail didn't even bother to protect himself, taking the green bolt head-on.

The girls fell, but Wormtail managed to lower them close to the ground, and none of them looked hurt. Before Malfoy recovered, Harry stunned him, then did the same for good measure with Pansy, and stood up.

He checked the pulse of Parvati, Ginny, and Padma, and breathed with relief, seeing as they were all alive. He then raised his wand, and headed straight into the dungeon.

The door was locked, but seeing as the _Alohomora_ charm opened it, it wasn't really meant to be secure. Harry entered.

"Took you long enough, Potter," Snape said.

Before Harry could do anything, Snape's wand erupted with fire. Harry found himself bound and hanging in mid-air, being maneuvered inside the room.

Only now did Harry notice the second figure. He guessed who it might be, and unfortunately, had his guess immediately confirmed when Voldemort looked at him, a triumphant look in the glowing red eyes. But what surprised Harry more than anything was the familiar item standing on the floor. Harry had no idea how it got here, and at this moment, it hardly mattered. But the situation was the last one he expected, giving the past experience with this item.

Lord Voldemort was looking into the Mirror of Erised.


	17. XVII

"What do you want with that?" Harry asked. If Voldemort intended to simply kill him, he already would have.

"Ahh... I intend to learn your heart's desire."

"What's in it to you?" Harry asked. "Last time—"

"I have accounted for everything that happened last time," Voldemort said.

"Your mistakes, you mean? Maybe so, but what's to stop you from making new ones?"

"Silence, Potter," Snape said. He lowered Harry in front of the mirror.

Harry couldn't help his curiosity. He looked and saw himself.

Snape was behind him in the Mirror, just like the real Snape was. It took Harry several seconds to realize the difference between what he saw and what was around him.

There was no Voldemort in the mirror.

"What do you see, Potter?" Voldemort demanded.

"Everything as it is," Harry said.

"Don't lie!" The scar throbbed with pain as Voldemort dropped his Occlumency. Harry had got used to his scar being calm over the past two years and was now paying the price—or maybe the pain really was worse than it ever had been before.

"I see... a world without you," Harry admitted. If Voldemort tried Legilemency, he would succumb, and he wanted to save his strength for something else. What, he didn't know.

"I see," Voldemort said. "Very well. So Wormtail betrayed me... It's to be expected of him, wouldn't you say so, Potter? But no matter. Once again, Potter, you proved useful. The final part for the use of the Mirror—"

Harry, more to save time than anything else, ventured a guess. "It's a Horcrux, isn't it? The last one?" he added, hoping the reminder that his opponents had managed to destroy all others would anger him.

It didn't. Instead, Snape spoke up. "Very impressive, Potter. Unfortunately, that knowledge will die with you."

"Why didn't Dumbledore destroy it when he had it?"

"Aah..." Voldemort was suddenly pleased. "The fool didn't know. He may have suspected, but Severus took care of that—he didn't tell you anything, did he, Potter?"

Harry had to admit that Dumbledore did not. On the other hand... why didn't he ask about this from the portrait in McGonagall's office? He cursed himself for such short-sightedness.

"It wouldn't have mattered. We removed the Mirror from its storage in the Department of Mysteries a few days after that. When we managed to put Rufus Scrimgeour under the Imperius Curse, that proved an added bonus.

"Relying on that proved a mistake, but fortunately, not a very costly one," Voldemort continued. "In the end, it makes no difference. You are here... and so is the Mirror. Prepare to be reunited with your parents, Potter."

Voldemort raised his wand. "_Ava_—" he began.

Something flashed in the room and before Harry knew it, his wand was in his hand, one spell, and his bonds were gone. He rolled away before Voldemort could finish the spell.

The dark lord never did so, clearly afraid he'd break the Mirror if he missed. Harry now saw the source of mysterious light—it was Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix. Harry didn't know how he arrived, or why,but the timing couldn't have been better. Snape was shooting killing curses at it, but the red bird managed to dodge all of them.

Harry aimed at Voldemort. "_Sectumsempra!_" he cried, and in the next second, regretted it as the curse rebounded off Voldemort's shield and hurled back at him. Harry blocked it with a shield of his own.

"You are not using your wand, are you?" Harry asked.

"Haven't I told you I have encountered for everything, Potter? _Avada Ked_—"

Voldemort stopped again as Fawkes pushed the Mirror of Erised between them. Voldemort lifted it back into an upright position and looked at Snape, who continued throwing curses at Fawkes and missing—Harry saw he was also careful not to hit the Mirror.

And then, Harry half-heard, half-felt—he didn't know any way to describe it, but he was pretty sure it was meant for him alone, and that he alone could hear it.

_Concentrate on what you saw in the Mirror,_ it said.

_Huh?_ Harry thought. _A world without Voldemort. Yeah, great, but how's that going to help?_

_Concentrate._ Despite his doubts, Harry did so. A few things happened. Pain in his scar became more bearable, Voldemort stumbled for a second, Snape screamed yet another curse as Fawkes managed to avoid getting hit once again, and then, Harry knew instinctively what he had to do.

"_Stupefy!_" he yelled, not knowing why he was doing so—trying to use this against Voldemort was like trying to beat up Grawp with a pencil. The red bolt was ready to be dissipated on Voldemort's shield, but before it did so, Fawkes swooped, right down into it. Harry expected Fawkes to fall stunned, but something totally unexpected happened instead.

The red stunner nearly doubled in length and turned fiery orange. Voldemort's shield appeared to have no effect on it, it simply went straight through and set his robes on fire. Voldemort attempted to put the fire out, but couldn't, and the fire began spreading even further and consuming him.

"Severus!" Voldemort yelled. Harry turned, preparing to duel Snape. But the ex-Potions master raised his wand and exclaimed, "_Reducto!_", shattering the Mirror.

Voldemort screamed in fury, and Harry's scar erupted in pain once more. Harry fought it and watched as Snape fought another kind of pain as some erupting from the glass chunks lying about engulfed him and were blackening his body. Harry got a sudden desire to help Snape—unexpected, unexplainable—but he didn't know how. He turned from Snape to Voldemort, who was being slowly reduced to nothing. _Just like in the Mirror_, Harry thought.

Voldemort attempted to cast a spell, but his wand had already burned away. Harry thought it was over, when another wave of foreign thoughts entered him. This time, they were far more unpleasant.

_Save me_, they commanded.

_No._

_Save me._ And unbelievable pain, not just in the scar but over his whole body, surged through him.

_No._

_Murderer._

Harry began to raise his wand. _No._ He stopped himself. _Don't throw that word around_—

_Mur_—

_NO!_ And he tossed away his wand so he wouldn't do it accidentally.

Harry was shocked when he saw Voldemort—what was left of him—hold up another wand. It wasn't the one he tossed away—it was Snape's wand. Snape's dead body was lying on the floor among the pieces of the Mirror.

Harry remembered at the last moment that he also had a second wand on him. _His mother's wand. _He drew it.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" a roar came out of the fire, and Harry's world blackened and was gone.


	18. XVIII

The end of year feast was the quietest in decades, surpassing even the one following the Triwizard Tournament and the death of Cedric Diggory. The students sat, as usual, in House tables, but the unusual part was the teachers sitting off to the side in front. The center stage was taken by the D.A. members who had fought in the battles this year. Terry Boot, Zacharias Smith, Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Ginny Weasley, Daphne Greengrass, Padma Patil, Theodore Nott, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Parvati Patil. Five seats were left empty, standing in for the Creevey brothers, who were attacked by Dementors in the final battle, Luna Lovegood, killed by Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, perished in an avalanche, and Harry Potter, whose body was found in the dungeon and brought to St. Mungo's where the best Healers could do nothing. The center chair was left glaringly empty.

At the teachers' table, empty seats were left for Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore. All students on the stage and all the teachers were dressed entirely in black to match the hall decorations.

Students made speeches about those they lost. Ginny talked about Luna and Neville. Terry Boot made a short speech about his Auror father. Professor Sprout gave an obituary to Flitwick. Theodore Nott talked about what he and his mother had to endure, and stressed that had he and Daphne not joined the D.A. in the fight, things might have been worse. Everyone looked at the Slytherin table, where the once-popular Head Boy sat alone and subdued. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were awaiting trial and would no doubt soon go to Azkaban. "The Dark Lord was smart enough not to go at it alone, and if we had been too proud, too untrusting, to do the same, we would meet our downfall at his hands," Nott said.

After he sat down, the Hall was silent for several minutes. Neither Parvati nor Hermione seemed eager to say much—Parvati looked like she was about to burst into tears, and both Ginny and Hermione had to support her.

Then Ron stood up.

"Love," he began, "is the greatest gift one can be given.

"As we sit here, relieved and perhaps even _happy_—" he emphasized the word as if it were a curse, causing several people in the audience, including Parvati, to gasp— "that the war we fought in is over, we should realize that we shouldn't have fought it in the first place."

He took a deep breath. "Lord Voldemort," he said, prompting more gasps, this time Hermione's being the most prominent—this was the first time he said it— "was never truly loved. He was flattered, feared, respected, and even truly admired by some—but never loved. He couldn't understand the happiness one find in love—any love. The love of a parent, a sibling, a mentor, a friend. Had he understood what that meant—had someone showed him what love brought—we wouldn't have Lord Voldemort. We would only have a powerful, perhaps famous wizard named Tom Riddle—and a great many of those who are no longer with us because of him."

Ron sipped from a glass of water and continued. "Harry Potter knew all that. He knew and valued the gift of love, perhaps because, growing up, he had seen so little. He knew that should Voldemort win, our world would not know love—just fear, cruelty, and the desire to survive at the expense of others. Harry Potter knew love, he knew what it's like to lack it, he was willing to give his life so that others would live in a world where they would know it—and he did.

"Look around you. There are people who lack love, who do not know its value. If you take your time to care, truly, genuinely care, you may prevent a terrible future. We had all been very lucky in that this time, we had a Harry Potter. But all of us, including Harry himself, would be far better off if we hadn't needed him.

"That was a very good speech. Mostly accurate, too," someone said from behind.

Shocked along with the rest of the hall, Ron turned to see Harry, emerging from under his invisibility cloak, sitting in the center seat.

"Oh my—it's you—I'm not daydreaming—am I?"

"No, Hermione, you aren't."

"_**HOW?!**_" was all Ron managed.

"_Priori Incantatem_," Harry said. "Again. Voldemort didn't use his own wand to cast his final curse—and I didn't hold mine. But they were, surprisingly, brother-wands. But since I wasn't able to actually cast a spell, I did get hit by his curse—indirectly. I only woke up in St. Mungo's a half hour ago. I threated half the staff so they would let me come here. I arrived just as you were starting, and I decided not to disturb you. Good speech, I couldn't have said it better myself. Parvati—"

Parvati recovered from surprise, jumped up screaming, wrapped her arms around Harry, and kissed him.


	19. XVIIIalternate ending

The end of year feast was the quietest in decades, surpassing even the one following the Triwizard Tournament and the death of Cedric Diggory. The students sat, as usual, in House tables, but the unusual part was the teachers sitting off to the side in front. The center stage was taken by the D.A. members who had fought in the battles this year. Terry Boot, Zacharias Smith, Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Ginny Weasley, Daphne Greengrass, Padma Patil, Theodore Nott, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Parvati Patil. Five seats were left empty, standing in for the Creevey brothers, who were attacked by Dementors in the final battle, Luna Lovegood, killed by Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, perished in an avalanche, and Harry Potter, whose body was found in the dungeon and brought to St. Mungo's where the best Healers could do nothing. The center chair was left glaringly empty.

At the teachers' table, empty seats were left for Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore. All students on the stage and all the teachers were dressed entirely in black to match the hall decorations.

Students made speeches about those they lost. Ginny talked about Luna and Neville. Terry Boot made a short speech about his Auror father. Professor Sprout gave an obituary to Flitwick. Theodore Nott talked about what he and his mother had to endure, and stressed that had he and Daphne not joined the D.A. in the fight, things might have been worse. Everyone looked at the Slytherin table, where the once-popular Head Boy sat alone and subdued. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were awaiting trial and would no doubt soon go to Azkaban. "The Dark Lord was smart enough not to go at it alone, and if we had been too proud, too untrusting, to do the same, we would meet our downfall at his hands," Nott said.

After he sat down, the Hall was silent for several minutes. Neither Parvati nor Hermione seemed eager to say much—Parvati looked like she was about to burst into tears, and both Ginny and Hermione had to support her.

Then Ron stood up.

"Love," he began, "is the greatest gift one can be given."

"As we sit here, relieved and perhaps even _happy_—" he emphasized the word as if it were a curse, causing several people in the audience, including Parvati, to gasp— "that the war we fought in is over, we should realize that we shouldn't have fought it in the first place."

He took a deep breath. "Lord Voldemort," he said, prompting more gasps, this time Hermione's being the most prominent—this was the first time he said it— "was never truly loved. He was flattered, feared, respected, and even truly admired by some—but never loved. He couldn't understand the happiness one find in love—any love. The love of a parent, a sibling, a mentor, a friend. Had he understood what that meant—had someone showed him what love brought—we wouldn't have Lord Voldemort. We would only have a powerful, perhaps famous wizard named Tom Riddle—and a great many of those who are no longer with us because of him."

Ron sipped from a glass of water and continued. "Harry Potter knew all that. He knew and valued the gift of love, perhaps because, growing up, he had seen so little. He knew that should Voldemort win, our world would not know love—just fear, cruelty, and the desire to survive at the expense of others. Harry Potter knew love, he knew what it's like to lack it, he was willing to give his life so that others would live in a world where they would know it—and he did."

"Look around you. There are people who lack love, who do not know its value. If you take your time to care, truly, genuinely care, you may prevent a terrible future. We had all been very lucky in that this time, we had a Harry Potter. But all of us, including Harry himself, would be far better off if we hadn't needed him."

The hall sank into complete silence, until Ron sat down. Then the students quietly began to disperse. It was certainly not the atmosphere one expected at the end of the war. As the empty chairs on the center stage indicated, the price paid made the celebrations obscene.

XXX

Sitting in one compartment, Ron, Hermione, Padma, Ginny, and Parvati looked back at the Hogwarts castle. For four of them, this was the last ride on the Hogwarts Express. They didn't feel like doing anything—the loss they had suffered was all too recent. Both Padma and Ginny and Ron and Hermione purposefully avoided physical contact so as not to make Parvati uncomfortable.

"Why did you leave me?" Parvati whispered. No one could give an answer. Ginny and Hermione hugged her. "I can say it's going to be okay," Hermione said.

"But it won't be, right?" Parvati said through a few sobs. "Damn this."

"I'm sure you'll meet someone—"

"It won't be the same. Besides, no one will want—"

"Parvati, that's nonsense. Harry was far from the only guy who wanted to date you," Ron said.

Parvati looked at him angrily. "It's different now! I—"

"Sis?" Padma looked at her. "Are you well?"

"No. Harry—"

"Are _you_ well? Physically?"

"No," Parvati answered. "Damn you, Harry! Why did you leave me?"

"Parvati?" Hermione asked. "What's going on?"

Parvati looked at her, then at the rest, and dropped several tears. "Oh, what's the use, you'll pester me till you learn. I didn't expect it to happen. We had such a short time..."

"Parvati?"

"We often joked about what we were going to do after the war. Careers, marriage, children... We thought we would have years..." She paused. "Didn't work, did it? Then this morning, I didn't feel so good, so I went to see Madam Pomfrey. And..."

"And what?" Ginny asked.

"And I found out I'm pregnant."


End file.
